Joe Richard Pool (February 18, 1911 – July 14, 1968) was an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from Texas. Pool represented all of Texas from January 3, 1963, until January 3, 1967 (when such districts in multi-district states were banned by the Supreme Court) and then from the western half of Dallas County, Texas, from January 3, 1967, until July 14, 1968.
Early life and education Joe Richard Pool was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 18, 1911 to William Wesley Pool and the former Bonnie Jean King. The Pool family moved to Dallas in 1913. In 1914 William Pool started a mattress manufacturing business named Direct Mattress. Pool attended school in Dallas, and graduated from Oak Cliff High School (now W.H. Adamson High School) in 1929. He attended the University of Texas from 1929 to 1933 majoring in pre-law and business. Pool was a member of the American Legion, Dallas and Texas Bar Associations, and was honored with a life membership in the Dallas Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. His family were members of the Methodist Church. While serving as chairman of the Judiciary Council at the University of Texas, Pool began a lifelong friendship with Claudia Alta Taylor (Lady Bird Johnson), also a member of the council. In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Pool's finances forced him to withdraw from the university. He completed his legal education studying part-time at Southern Methodist University where he graduated in 1937. He was admitted to the Texas Bar and commenced the practice of law in Dallas with his partner J. Frank Wilson.
Pool moved back to Dallas in 1943 and had to put his law career on hold while he volunteered for duty in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He rose from the rank of private to staff technical sergeant by the end of World War II. He was in intelligence service mainly investigating military accidents for sabotage. Pool received an honorable discharge in 1945.Vander Hill, Bryan. A Biographical Sketch of Joe Pool. Department of History 3363: Dr. Lackman. University of Texas. July 8, 1991.
Career Pre-politics business career After WWII Pool rejoined his law partner J. Frank Wilson in Dallas. In 1946 Pool managed Wilson's successful congressional campaign. At this time Pool also worked to expand his father's mattress business. In 1947 Pool took his experiences in helping his father's business and put them to work opening his own down comforter refurbishing company in Ennis, Texas. The business, Alden Comfort Mills, moved to Plano, Texas, in 1950. This helped financially support his political endeavors. In early 1959 Pool also tried his hand at Dallas real estate and later that year he dabbled in oil drilling in southeast Kentucky.
Texas House of Representatives
Pool began his political career in 1952 by running for the District 51, Place 5 seat in the Texas House of Representatives from Dallas County.Gould, Lewis L. (1929). Professor, Dept. of History, University of Texas at Austin. Joe Richard Pool. "Dictionary of American Biography". Science. 70(1805): 121–122. His first campaign for public office was a success. Pool was re-elected in 1954 and 1956.
During his service in the Texas legislature, Pool served on various committees of the House. For four years he was vice-chairman of the Insurance Committee and helped write much of the reform insurance legislation that is now incorporated in the Texas Insurance Code. He also served as chairman of the Motor Traffic Committee, Conservation and Reclamation Committee, and the House Investigating Committee.
While serving in the legislature, Pool co-authored the 1955 bill that created the Trinity River Authority. The goal of the Trinity River Authority bill was to study the feasibility of building a Trinity River canal from Dallas-Fort Worth to Galveston Bay from 1955 to 1974. During this time many of the citizens in Dallas-Fort Worth supported the idea but in 1973, when the Trinity River Authority sought voter approval of a $150 million bond to fund the project, the voters rejected the idea due to opposition from environmentalists.
Pool also authored the 1957 Pool Election Law requiring runoff elections for Texas US Senate races in which no candidate received an outright majority (better than 50%). This law allowed Lyndon Johnson to simultaneously run for re-election to his Senate seat as well as for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency in the 1960 election. Johnson lost the nomination to John F. Kennedy, but retained his Senate seat, which he gave up when Kennedy named him as his running mate for the general election.
Kennedy-Johnson Natural Resources Advisory Committee
Pool was an unsuccessful candidate for U.S. representative from the 5th District of Texas (Dallas County) in 1958, losing in the Democratic primary to Barefoot Sanders. He ran again in 1960, winning the primary, but lost in the general election to Republican incumbent Bruce Alger.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1966, Benjamin Guthrie, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, page 43.
During the 1960 campaign Pool was on the same Dallas County Democratic ticket with then Senator John F. Kennedy and then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson.Letter from JFK to Joe Pool. JFK Library 1960 Campaign Collection. Pre Presidential Folder. October 19, 1960. Through his acquaintance with LBJ's wife Lady Bird Johnson at college, Pool came to the attention of the presidential ticket, who recognized his candidacy as important to their efforts to win Texas in the 1960 presidential election.Letter from Frank E. Smith to Joe Pool. JFK Library. Frank E. Smith Personal Papers. Committee Acceptance Letters for January 17th Meeting. FESPP-001-006, FESPP-001-007. 1960-1961. September 23, 1960. Pool was appointed by President Kennedy to the Kennedy-Johnson Natural Resources Advisory Committee.Letter from Frank E. Smith to Joe Pool. JFK Library. Frank E. Smith Personal Papers. Committee Membership List FESPP-001-008. 1960-1961. December 16, 1960.
Pool used this appointment to advocate for flood control projects for the Trinity River and its tributaries. Pool spent two months immersing himself into the flood control data that he had compiled when he was in the Texas legislature co-authoring the Trinity River Act of 1955. He updated his flood research to 1960 with all of North Texas creeks and streams that were flood prone. What Pool formulated from his research grew into a flood control report for North Texas. Pool's report, produced in December 15, 1960, included his analysis of these flood prone watersheds and his recommendation of what corrections the federal government should enact to alleviate flooding in these watersheds.Joe Pool's Report to Kennedy-Johnson Natural Resources Advisory Committee. JFK Library. Frank E. Smith Personal Papers. Reports From N.R.A.C. Members: P-Q. FESPP-006-002. 1960-1961. December 15, 1960.
In his report Pool advocated for a navigation canal for shipping on the Trinity River from Fort Worth to the Gulf of Mexico which was a popular idea in the 1950s and 1960s before it fell out of public favor in the 1970s. He called out "polluter cities" in the 18,000 square mile Trinity Basin that were the result of insufficient policing of the watershed and inadequate water conservation facilities. Pool favored more state control of rivers totally within Texas borders. He commented on the most recent City of Dallas water study. Pool stated, "One of the salient features of this report calls for the construction of a reservoir on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River upstream from the existing Garza-Little Elm project. Another calls for a similar reservoir in Denton Creek upstream from the Grapevine project. However, there is a remaining stream below Dallas that is uncontrolled--Mountain Creek. This stream embraces a drainage area of 300 sq. miles and presently has no flood control whatsoever. I believe that a project should be undertaken on this stream not only for flood control but for such conservation as can be economically justified." Director Frank E. Smith of the Kennedy-Johnson Natural Resources Advisory Committee's office confirmed receipt of Joe Pool's report on December 20, 1960.Receipt from Shurlee McGloon of Joe Pool's Report. JFK Library. Frank E. Smith Personal Papers. Reports from N.R.A.C. Members P-Q. FESPP-002-004. 1960-1961. December 20, 1960.
Pool served on the Kennedy/Johnson Natural Resources Advisory Committee from September 23, 1960 until he ran for Texas U.S. congressman-at-large in 1962.
United States Congress Congressman-at-large In the 1960 Congressional reapportionment, Texas received an additional U.S. House seat, but the districts were not redrawn and an at-large seat was created by the legislature. Pool won the Democratic nomination and defeated the Republican in the general election to serve in the Eighty-eighth Congress.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1962, Benjamin Guthrie, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, page 37. He was also re-elected at-large to the Eighty-ninth Congress in 1964.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1964, Benjamin Guthrie, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, page 43.
Pool was the last congressman-at-large from Texas and the United States. Representing the entire state of Texas, and having a personal relationship with President Johnson through his college friendship with Lady Bird Johnson, Pool wielded greater influence than other members of Congress, allowing him to push through some pet projects. Pool, along with his wife Elizabeth, were LBJ delegates to the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City.Delegate Membership Roll. Campaigns Department LBJ Library. Austin, Texas. 1964.
Congressman for the Third District of Texas In Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court banned at-large Congressional districts. Texas redrew its districts, and Pool was re-elected again to the Ninetieth Congress in 1966.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1966, Benjamin Guthrie, Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, page 41. but this time to the 3rd district that encompassed the western half of Dallas County.