Changes

==Background==

==Background==

Born in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] to a [[Methodist]] pastor, Joe Z. Tower (1898-1970) and his wife, Beryl (1898-1990), John Tower served in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]] and thereafter until 1989 in the Naval Reserve. He graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and studied at the London School of Economics in [[London]], [[England]]. He switched from the [[Democratic Party]] in 1951, and five years later contested, unsuccessfully, for a seat in the Texas House of Representative from [[Wichita Falls]] and to back [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s re-election  to the presidency. In 1960, he polled 41 percent of the vote in a Republican campaign against Senator [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], who was also running for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] on the ticket headed by [[John F. Kennedy]]. Upon his election as vice president, Johnson resigned from the Senate and Governor Price Daniel, Sr., appointed a [[conservative]] Democrat, William A. "Bill" Blakely of [[Dallas]] as the interim senator. In a two-round special election in the spring of 1961, Tower prevailed by a narrow margin over Blakely, who had also been an interim senator in 1957, when the outgoing Senator Price Daniel became governor. Several prominent Democrats went down to defeat in the special election, including future U.S. House Speaker James C. "Jim" Wright of [[Fort Worth]] and the [[San Antonio]] Hispanic firebrand, Henry B. Gonzalez.

Born in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] to a [[Methodist]] pastor, Joe Z. Tower (1898-1970) and his wife, Beryl (1898-1990), John Tower served in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]] and thereafter until 1989 in the Naval Reserve. He graduated from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and studied at the London School of Economics in [[London]], [[England]]. He switched from the [[Democratic Party]] in 1951, another source says 1948, and in 1954 contested, unsuccessfully, for a seat in the Texas House of Representative from [[Wichita Falls]] and campaigned in 1956 for [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s re-election  to the presidency. In 1960, he polled 41 percent of the vote in a Republican campaign against Senator [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], who was also running for [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] on the ticket headed by [[John F. Kennedy]]. Upon his election as vice president, Johnson resigned from the Senate and Governor Price Daniel, Sr., appointed a [[conservative]] Democrat, William A. "Bill" Blakely of [[Dallas]] as the interim senator. In a two-round special election in the spring of 1961, Tower prevailed by a narrow margin over Blakely, who had also been an interim senator in 1957, when the outgoing Senator Price Daniel became governor. Several prominent Democrats went down to defeat in the special election, including future U.S. House Speaker James C. "Jim" Wright of [[Fort Worth]] and the [[San Antonio]] Hispanic firebrand, Henry B. Gonzalez.

==Political life==

==Political life==