Changes

'''Ralph Webster Yarborough''' (June 8, 1903 &ndash; January 27, 1996) was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[politician]] who represented his native [[Texas]] in  [[United States Senate]] from 1957 to 1971. He was a leader of the [[progressive]] wing of his party and the only white Southern senator to vote for all civil rights bills from 1957 to 1970, including the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Yarborough Dies at 92; Cast Historic Civil Rights Vote|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/28/us/ralph-yarborough-dies-at-92-cast-historic-civil-rights-vote.html|title=Ralph Yarborough dies at 92; cast historic civil rights vote|publisher=''[[New York Times]]''|accessdate=August 2, 2012|author=Stephen Labaton|date=January 28, 1996}}</ref>  

'''Ralph Webster Yarborough''' (June 8, 1903 &ndash; January 27, 1996) was a [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[politician]] who represented his native [[Texas]] in  [[United States Senate]] from 1957 to 1971. He was a leader of the [[progressive]] wing of his party and the only white Southern senator to vote for all civil rights bills from 1957 to 1970, including the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Ralph Yarborough Dies at 92; Cast Historic Civil Rights Vote|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/28/us/ralph-yarborough-dies-at-92-cast-historic-civil-rights-vote.html|title=Ralph Yarborough dies at 92; cast historic civil rights vote|publisher=''[[New York Times]]''|accessdate=August 2, 2012|author=Stephen Labaton|date=January 28, 1996}}</ref>  

Yarborough won his Senate seat in 1957, after Senator Price Daniel, Sr. (1910-1988), left the Senate to be inaugurated as governor. He defeated a [[conservative]], William Arvis "Dollar Bill" Blakley (1898-1976) in the [[special election]]. A few months earlier, Yarborough had  lost the 1956 gubernatorial [[primary]] runoff to Daniel. Then, he won the first of his two full terms in the upper legislative body in 1958, when he handily defeated the [[Republican Party|Republican]] publisher [[Roy Whittenburg]] in the [[general election]]. In 1964, Yarborough defeated conservative broadcaster Gordon McLendon in the [[primary]] that year and then topped [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] to claim his second full Senate term. Yarborough was close to [[U.S. President]]s [[John F. Kennedy]] and then [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. In 1970, however, Yarborough, who had become a critic of the [[Vietnam War]],  lost re-nomination to former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Lloyd Bentsen]] of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] and, earlier, McAllen. Bentsen then topped Bush, making his second consecutive unsuccessful run for the Senate,  in the general election held mid-term in the administration of President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Bentsen vacated the seat in 1993 to become [[U.S. Secretary of the Treasury]] under President [[Bill Clinton]].

Yarborough won his Senate seat in 1957, after Senator Price Daniel, Sr. (1910-1988), left the Senate to be inaugurated as governor. He defeated a [[conservative]], William Arvis "Dollar Bill" Blakley (1898-1976) in the [[special election]]. A few months earlier, Yarborough had  lost the 1956 gubernatorial [[primary]] runoff to Daniel. Then, he won the first of his two full terms in the upper legislative body in 1958, when he handily defeated the [[Republican Party|Republican]] publisher [[Roy Whittenburg]] in the [[general election]]. In 1964, Yarborough defeated conservative broadcaster Gordon McLendon in the [[primary]] that year and then topped [[George Herbert Walker Bush]] to claim his second full Senate term. Yarborough was close to [[U.S. President]]s [[John F. Kennedy]] and then [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]. In 1970, however, Yarborough, who had become a critic of the [[Vietnam War]],  lost re-nomination to former [[U.S. Representative]] [[Lloyd Bentsen]] of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] and, earlier, McAllen. Bentsen then topped Bush, making his second consecutive unsuccessful run for the Senate,  in the general election held mid-term in the administration of President [[Richard M. Nixon]]. Bentsen vacated the seat in 1993 to become [[United States Secretary of the Treasury]] under President [[Bill Clinton]].

Yarborough's fellow senator from 1961 to 1971 was the [[Moderate Republican]] [[John Tower]], initially elected as a strong conservative in the 1961 special Senate election. Coincidentally, Tower had defeated by some ten thousand votes William Blakely, the six-month interim senator who succeeded Lyndon Johnson, who then became [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]. And it was Governor Price Daniel who appointed Blakely as interim senator in both 1957 and 1961.  

Yarborough's fellow senator from 1961 to 1971 was the [[Moderate Republican]] [[John Tower]], initially elected as a strong conservative in the 1961 special Senate election. Coincidentally, Tower had defeated by some ten thousand votes William Blakely, the six-month interim senator who succeeded Lyndon Johnson, who then became [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]]. And it was Governor Price Daniel who appointed Blakely as interim senator in both 1957 and 1961.