Just who is Sam Rayburn?

The Sam Rayburn Tollway

When we moved to Texas a few years ago I noticed that one of the highways was named after someone named Sam Rayburn. I did not recognize the name, so I just assumed he was a local celebrity. Wrong assumption.

On a weekend trip we went to the Sam Rayburn House Museum and The Sam Rayburn Library in Bonham, Texas. Who was Sam Rayburn? Obviously he was an important man since he has so many things named after him like a major highway, a dam, a lake, The Rayburn building in DC, and a nuclear submarine to just name a few. Also, his home is a historic site, and there is a Sam Rayburn Library/Museum to recognize and remember him. He most definitely was a very important man.

The statue Sam Rayburn in front of the Sam Rayburn Library.

Our first stop on our trip was the Sam Rayburn Library. This is what we learned about Sam Rayburn, or Mr. Sam as he was affectionately called. Sam was born in Tennessee on January 6, 1882, and his family moved to Fannin County, Texas in 1887 and eventually made their home in Bonham. Sam went to college at 18 years old, and alternated between college and teaching while earning his B.S. in just 2 years. He taught school for two years then left to become a lawyer and legislator.

A life size statue of Mr. Sam in the Library.

Sam won a State House seat in 1906 and went to law school in between sessions. He took the bar in 1908. Sam was reelected in 1908 and 1910 which he served as the Speaker of the Texas House. This is one of the amazing facts about Sam Rayburn, He was elected to the United States Congress in 1912 as a Democrat and after that election he had no Republican opponent at any time during all the years he served in the US Congress. What is amazing about that fact is that Mr. Sam had the longest record of service that ran for forty-nine continuous years.

That alone is amazing but out of those 49 years he served as the Speaker of the House in 1940 and was the speaker during every Democratic controlled Congress until his death in 1961. During 4 of those years when the Republicans held the majority, Sam was the minority leader. He served Congress under Presidents Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt,Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy. He was also very good friends with fellow Texan, Lyndon Johnson.

Items that belonged to Mr. Sam

The eight Presidents that Sam served under during his years in Congress.

In 1927 Mr.Sam married Metze Jones, a sister of one of his friends from Congress, but the marriage only lasted 2 1/2 months. They divorced and Sam never married again. His sister Lucinda Rayburn filled in as his companion during any official events. Sam was very close to his family. He built a house in 1916 on 121 acres of land he bought just outside of Bonham, Texas in 1914.

The front of Sam's house

The back of Sam's house

Sam originally lived in the house with his parents, sister Lucinda and his brother Tom. As the years went on the family that lived with him came and went, siblings and cousins, but Lucinda was a constant in his life. His farm had cattle in the pasture and they grew sorghum, (a cereal grain that grows like corn and is mainly used to feed livestock), corn and cotton.

This picture of Lucinda hangs in the House in the parlor.

Sam's bedroom in the second floor of the house.

The place setting that the Rayburn's used for entertaining. I love the knife prop.

Sam Rayburn was a terrible driver. He put bumps and dents in his truck, and in his sister's car. It was a good thing that the Speaker of the House had a congressional funded official speaker's limo for him.

Sam's truck with all its dents!

There is a great story about Sam when he lost his position as speaker in 1947 and no longer had the limo. A group of Democratic congressmen wanted to buy him a replacement Cadillac, but he had a rule that he would not accept any gifts over $25. So, the Dems in Congress collected $25 checks from 142 Democrats and 50 Republicans and purchased Mr. Sam a 1947 Cadillac for $3600. Sam was outsmarted and had to accept the gift, but returned the checks to the Republicans along with a heartfelt thank you, because he felt that accepting their gifts may be looked upon as a conflict of interest. Sam only had to use the car for 2 years because the Democrats took back the Congress in 1949 and he was once again Speaker. He had the car until his death in 1961 and then his sister sold the car. Then in 1975 it was donated to the Sam Rayburn House Museum where it is today nicely tucked into the garage.

The Cadillac that was bought for Sam by his friends in Congress

The Sam Rayburn Library in Bonham is a spectacular building that has wonderful displays, including an exact replica of his office in Congress and his personal library. Every book in the Sam Rayburn library that was read and owned by Sam had his initials on page 99. Among the books in the library is the complete proceedings of the United States Congress. These publications start with the First Continental Congress of 1774 to the present. These books are used as an invaluable source for researchers.

The front of the Sam Rayburn Library

The replica of Sam's office in the Capital.

The library section of the Library.

One of the books off of the library shelves with Sam's initials on page 99.

As a new Texan, I sure learned a whole lot about this political power house. It makes so much more sense to me as to why everything is named after this very special Texas Son.