Ralph Yarborough

Ralph Webster Yarborough ( born June 8, 1903 in Chandler, Henderson County, Texas, † January 27, 1996 in Austin, Texas ) was an American politician.

In the years 1919 to 1920, he attended the Military Academy at West Point. In 1922 he went to Germany and was an assistant at the American Chamber of Commerce in Berlin, in order to study foreign economy and working to learn. At the university he graduated in 1927 from his right exam and practiced as a lawyer in El Paso. Subsequently, he was from 1931 to 1934 Deputy Attorney General of Texas. In 1936 he was appointed District Judge of the 53rd Judicial District in Travis County, from 1941 he was in the 3rd Judicial District operates.

From 1943 to 1946 he served in Europe and Japan in the Army and left it as a Colonel ( Oberst ). Shortly after his return to the USA he applied in 1952, 1954 and 1956 for the nomination as the Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial elections. However, the attempt failed in three attempts in the last election he was defeated scarce. In a by-election on 2 April 1957 he was elected as attributable to the liberal wing of his party as Democrat U.S. Senator for the State of Texas. On 29 April 1957 he took up his position and retired on January 3, 1971, from this, after he lost the Democratic primary in 1970 against Lloyd Bentsen. Yarborough died on January 27, 1996 in Austin at the age of 92 years and is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

Yarborough was the immediate witness of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On November 22, 1963, he drove in the motorcade through Dallas along with Vice- President Lyndon B. Johnson two cars behind that of Kennedy when the fatal shots were fired at them.