One of only two men to serve as both the leader of the House and Senate, with a political career spanning 42 years, John Nance Garner became a sort-of father figure to the members of the Democratic Party and gained a reputation for being a gifted backroom politician.
But despite serving term terms as the 32nd Vice President during Franklin Roosevelt’s first two terms, John’s seeming disloyalty – that is, his criticism of Roosevelt running for a third term in 1940 – saw him thrown off the 1940 ticket and replaced with Henry A. Wallace.
When he left the office of Vice President, he ended his life of public service, instead retiring to his home in Texas and becoming a sort of unofficial political advisor to any Democrat who needed it.
Early Life
John Nance Garner III was born on November 22 1868 in a log cabin near Detroit, Red River County, Texas. The eldest of seven children born to farmer John Nance Garner II and his wife, Sarah Guest, much of John’s early life was spent helping out on his family’s farm.
Despite being born in a log cabin, John’s parents were actually somewhat well off, with the family living in a large, two story farm house next to the log cabin all seven children were born in.
Indeed, these facts seem to have influence the young John’s political opinions, perhaps explaining his rather conservative, pro-farm, pro-states’ rights nature even at a time when his party was shifting more to the left.
Unable to afford a traditional education for all their children, John II and Sarah (two fairly well-educated people for the time), homeschooled their children as much as possible, whilst also instilling in them a strong work ethic.
In 1879, this fact allowed John to enroll at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, a university with strong ties to his father’s family.
Against all expectations, John didn’t flourish at Vanderbilt, instead dropping out after one semester as he struggled with his lack of a preparatory education and his numerous respiratory problems, namely his asthma.
Returning to home, John moved to the nearby city of Clarksville and began working at the law firm of Sims and Wright. In his free time, John studied so he could pass the bar exam (as under Texas law you don’t necessarily need to go to law school to pass the bar).
Unsurprisingly, working fulltime at a law firm and studying at night, it didn’t take long for John to have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the law. He was admitted to the bar in 1890, just a year after he’d dropped out of Vanderbilt.
Now admitted to the bar, John left Clarksville for the backwater railroad town of Ulvade, Texas, where he practiced as an attorney.