Walter Flowers
Encyclopedia
Walter Flowers was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician who represented Alabama's 7th congressional district
Alabama's 7th congressional district
Alabama's 7th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in Alabama, which elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives. The district encompasses the counties of Greene, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, Perry and Hale...

 in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from January 1969 to January 1979.

Private life

A native of Greenville, Alabama
Greenville, Alabama
Greenville is a city in Butler County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census, the population was 7,228. The city is the county seat of Butler County and is known as the Camellia City. The movement to change the Official Alabama State Flower from the goldenrod to the camellia originated in...

 in Butler County
Butler County, Alabama
Butler County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Captain William Butler, who was born in Virginia and fought in the Creek War, and who was killed in May 1818. As of 2010 the population was 20,947...

, Walter Flowers attended public schools in Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...

 and entered the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....

 where he earned degrees in 1955 and 1957. In 1957-58, Flowers continued his graduate studies in international law as a fellow at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

. He held a commission as a Reserve Lieutenant Officer in the US Army in Military Intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

 and practiced law in Alabama before his election to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

.

Political career

On November 5, 1968, Walter Flowers was elected to the first of five successive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1978 he sought the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

, but lost the primary to Howell Heflin
Howell Heflin
Howell Thomas Heflin was a United States Senator from Tuscumbia, Alabama, and a member of the Democratic Party.-Biography:...

 who went on to serve three terms. Flowers did not seek political office again but retired from politics to McLean, Virginia
McLean, Virginia
McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census....

, where he died on his fifty-first birthday. Burial was at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

.

Role in Watergate hearings

Flowers served on the House Judiciary Committee which voted to refer articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon to the full House of Representatives in 1974. Flowers, a moderate Democrat, was considered to be leaning against the impeachment vote. After a long struggle which caused an ulcer to recur, Flowers voted for impeachment. The congressman said "I felt that if we didn't impeach, we'd just ingrain and stamp in our highest office a standard of conduct that's just unacceptable." Coming from a state which had supported Nixon in 1972, he was seen as influential even with some Republicans. He told the undecided Republicans on the committee, "This is something we just cannot walk away from. It happened, and now we've got to deal with it.

George Wallace

Flowers was influenced by former Alabama Governor George C. Wallace during his political career. Wallace said that during the Watergate hearings he tried to shield Flowers from increased pressure by refusing to forward a request, from Nixon, that he vote against impeachment. Flowers campaigned for Wallace and served as his national campaign chairman during Wallace's 1972 run for President.

External links

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