The Life of  Albert Gore, Sr.

Albert & Pauline Gore

Albert Gore was born in Jackson County, Tennessee on December 26, 1907.   He began a career as a school teacher in rural Smith County, having worked his way through Middle Tennessee State College by teaching school, fiddling at barn dances, and pitching for a baseball team.  At age 24, he entered politics, losing a race for Smith County Superintendent of Schools.  Upon the death of the Superintendent in 1932, Gore was appointed to complete the term.  While serving as Superintendent he studied law in Nashville.  In 1936 he graduated from YMCA Law School and passed the state bar examination.  In 1937, Governor Gordon Browning appointed him Tennessee's first Commissioner of Labor.  That same year, Gore married Pauline LaFon of Jackson, Tennessee.

In 1938, Congressman Ridley Mitchell decided not to seek reelection from the Fourth Tennessee District.  Albert Gore ran a successful campaign and began, in 1939, 32 years representing Tennessee in Congress.  He served 14 years in the House of Representatives and 18 years in the Senate.  During one Senate race, his opponent labeled him " the cunning gray fox from Carthage."  Gore liked the image and used it in future campaigns.  In 1970, he lost his Senate seat in the wake of the Nixon-Agnew "Southern Strategy" to alienate Gore from his constituents and to win a Republican victory for William Brock III.

During his 32 years in Congress, Gore served on many major committees including Public Works, Public Roads Subcommittee (chair), Rules, the Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections (chair), Foreign Relations, Finance, and the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.   He was a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations, the U.S. Delegation to the Nuclear Weapons Test Conference, and a participant in fact finding missions to Africa, the Middle Test, the Far East, and Central and South America.

As co-author of the Highway Act of 1956, Gore promoted the creation of the nation's Interstate Highway System.  He became a civil right proponent during the Eisenhower years and an advocate of racial justice.  As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, he vigorously opposed the Vietnam War.

The documents, papers, and correspondence which Senator Gore preserved from his public life now reside in the Albert Gore, Sr. Research Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

Prepared by Denise C. Musgrove