Carl Albert, 91, the Oklahoma Democrat who as speaker of the House of Representatives provided what was regarded as cautious, centrist leadership during some of the most turbulent times in American history--the years of Vietnam and Watergate--died Friday night at a hospital in McAlester, Okla.
After serving as majority leader from 1962 to 1971, Albert held the speaker's post from 1971 until he retired in 1977. At two delicate moments in the nation's history, Albert, who had lifted himself from rural poverty, found himself first in line of succession for the presidency.
As a legislator and leader, he was seen as amiable and studious, a moderate, upright figure schooled in the workings of the House and the interests of its members. Considered a liberal on domestic issues--on aid to the poor in particular--he was also considered a supporter of the foreign and military policies of presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.
"I very much dislike doctrinaire liberals--they want to own your minds," he once said. "And I don't like reactionary conservatives. I like to face issues in terms of conditions and not in terms of someone's inborn political philosophy."
In 1965--early in Johnson's administration--Albert endorsed the president's plan to provide the men and supplies sought by U.S. commanders in Vietnam. Later, he declined to join with members of his own fractious party who wished for an immediate end to American involvement.
But the backing he gave, as he later described it, was not without reservations.
"Even at the time of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Lyndon Johnson's subsequent injection of American power," he wrote in his autobiography, "I had had no great enthusiasm for the Vietnam War."
In 1973, Albert was credited with helping lead House efforts to block further military operations in Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
His position has been summarized as in favor of peace, but on terms acceptable to the United States.
During the Watergate scandal, he moved with careful deliberation as impeachment proceedings loomed against Nixon, championing fairness over excessive haste.
President Clinton praised Albert yesterday as a "true statesman" who was devoted to the national interest and "played an invaluable role crafting the greatest effort America had ever launched against poverty."
In an interview with CBS Radio, former president Gerald Ford called Albert a patriot who was one of the "fine speakers" of the 20th century.
One of the most dramatic moments of a life in which Albert rose from boyhood in the Oklahoma hamlet of Bug Tussle came after the pressure of a federal investigation led in 1973 to Spiro T. Agnew's resignation. The nation was left without a vice president; it was Nixon's responsibility to nominate a new one.
Nixon, himself facing a rising tide of allegations, brought Albert to the Oval Office to discuss the vacancy.
"Carl," the president asked, according to James Cannon's biography of Ford, "are you interested in it?"
"No, Mr. President," Albert said. "Not at all. I came to Washington to be a congressman."
Albert suggested Jerry Ford, according to Cannon's book. Congress approved; Ford became vice president; and after Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford was sworn in as president. Before Nelson Rockefeller became Ford's vice president, Albert was again next in line for the White House.
As a member of Congress for 30 years and a holder of the two top leadership posts in the House for half that time, Albert established a reputation for integrity, dedication to his duties and an unshakable devotion to his rural Oklahoma constituents.
In reflecting on his career, Albert concluded that it was his years as majority leader, from 1962 to 1971, that gave him the most satisfaction.
"My most successful time was during Johnson's first term," he told an interviewer in 1977, the year he began his retirement. "We got all the civil rights and poverty legislation through."
Republicans occupied the White House during the years, 1971 to 1976, that he served as speaker. In addition, these were years of restlessness and discontent among many members of Congress, concerned first by the war, then by Watergate, and exasperated by what they saw as an outmoded, unresponsive seniority system.
"The speaker is where the buck stops," Albert once said in describing his role in the legislative process.
He was said to rely on behind-the-scenes bargaining rather than open partisan conflict. He had come to the House at a time in which Congress was said to be marked by greater civility, and he was known for making few enemies. Oriented toward consensus politics, he was said to display little inclination to confront either the White House or the powerful House committee chairmen.
However, when Albert was first in line of succession to the presidency, he firmly squelched suggestions to oust Nixon before Ford could become vice president.
"I knew what I would do if something should happen to President Nixon, but I gave no thought to trying to become president," he said later. "The Republicans had been elected to the White House and . . . that was the way it was going to be."
During the Vietnam years, Albert was said to have joined at times with Republicans in curbing House debate on the war. What was regarded as his moderate position at that time widened divisions between him and increasingly anti-war activist House Democrats. Nonetheless, in the words of then-Rep. Phillip Burton (D-Calif.), he "consistently supported all thoughtful proposals to make the House of Representatives a more open, responsive and democratic institution."
The eldest son of a poor coal miner and occasional farmer, Albert was born in McAlester, in the state's 3rd Congressional District, one of the poorest and most rural in the nation.
The true-life hero of a genuine Horatio Alger story, Albert, who was 16 before he lived in a house with electricity or running water, graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oklahoma, winning the National Oratorical Championship while a student there.
Attending Oxford University under a Rhodes scholarship, he received two law degrees and began practicing in the late 1930s in Oklahoma City. He served in the Army during World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant colonel in 1946. That was the year the congressman from the 3rd District announced that he would not run again.
Albert won the Democratic nomination in regular and runoff primaries and went on to win a seat in the 80th Congress in the general election in November.
In 1955, Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-Tex.) brought him into the ranks of the Democratic House leadership, making him whip, or assistant majority leader. "I can tell big timber from small brush," Rayburn explained.
Under the almost automatic operation of the seniority system, Albert became majority leader in 1962 and speaker in 1971.
The year 1975 was not a good one for Albert. Ford, an old friend and colleague, kept denouncing Congress while vetoing the bills it passed. When the House failed to override the vetoes, Albert was blamed.
"It hasn't been all my fault," he said. "Even the best leader in the world couldn't have pulled out some of the overrides."
Criticism could not be quelled. House Democrats complained that he did not represent their positions with sufficient vigor. On June 5, 1976, Albert announced his decision to retire from Congress.
"There are other things I want to do while I am young enough to do them," he said in a written statement. "I want to spend more time with my family and lifelong friends. I want to be close to them because I love them dearly. I shall return to the scenes of my childhood in Oklahoma and live in the community where I grew up."
In addition to taking part in the civic affairs of his home town, Albert also maintained an association with a law firm in Washington.
Albert was 5 feet 4 1/2 inches tall; his book of memoirs was titled "Little Giant."
In addition to his wife, the former Mary Sue Green Harmon, survivors include a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister and four grandchildren.
