O. C. Fisher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 21st district | |
| In office January 3, 1943 – December 31, 1974 | |
| Preceded by | Charles L. South |
| Succeeded by | Bob Krueger |
| District attorney Texas 51st Judicial District | |
| In office 1937–1943 | |
| Member Texas House of Representatives 53rd District | |
| In office 1935–1937 | |
| County Attorney Tom Green County | |
| In office 1931–1935 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ovie Clark Fisher November 22, 1903 Junction, Texas |
| Died | December 9, 1994 (aged 91) Junction, Texas |
| Resting place | Junction Cemetery Junction, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Marian E. De Walsh |
| Children | Rhoda |
| Residence | San Angelo, Texas |
| Alma mater | University of Texas at Austin Baylor Law School |
| Profession | Attorney |
Ovie Clark Fisher (November 22, 1903 – December 9, 1994) was an attorney and author who served for 32 years as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district.
Fisher was born in Junction in Kimble County, Texas to Jobe Bazilee and Rhoda Catherine Clark Fisher.[1] He married Marian E. De Walsh on September 11, 1927. A daughter named Rhoda was the couple's only child.
Fisher attended University of Texas at Austin, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Baylor University at Waco, from which he received his LL.B.[2] He was admitted to the bar in 1929.
Fisher practiced law in San Angelo in West Texas for two years.[3] In 1931, he was elected county attorney for Tom Green County.
Fisher represented the 53rd District of Texas in the Texas House of Representatives[4] from 1935 to 1937. From 1937 to 1943, Fisher was District Attorney for the 51st Judicial District of Texas. [5]
In 1942, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives[6] as a Democrat and served in the 78th Congress[7] to the 93rd Congress. In 1972, the Republican Doug Harlan held Fisher to 57 percent of the general election vote. Paul Burka of Texas Monthly said Harlan's success was "one of the first indications that the dominance of the rural conservative Democrats in Texas politics could not be sustained."[8]
Fisher was one of five U.S. representatives from Texas to sign the "Southern Manifesto"[9] in protest of the US Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education.[10] Fisher voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[11] 1960,[12] 1964,[13] and 1968[14] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[15] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[16]
After heart surgery[17] in 1973, Fisher announced that he would not be stand for re-election in 1974.[18] His party nominated Robert Krueger as his successor, who defeated Harlan, who made his second and last race for Congress.
Fisher died on December 9, 1994.[19]
Baylor University is the repository for the O.C. Fisher Papers.[20]
In 1975, San Angelo Lake, a reservoir managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers was renamed O.C. Fisher Reservoir in his honor.[21] San Angelo State Park[22] is on the shores of the reservoir.
Fisher had membership in the following organizations:[23]
