Olin E. Teague and the Veterans' Administration

Abstract

Olin E. Teague grew to manhood in rural Oklahoma and Arkansas during the two decades before the Depression. In 1928 he entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. His father's health failed during his second year, forcing Olin to work his way through college. One job, working for the Post Office, became permanent after his senior year, and he remained with the Post Office Department until the nation mobilized in 1940. While in the Army, he ultimately rose to the rank of colonel and led an infantry battalion from Normandy to the outskirts of the Siegfried Line, where he was wounded in 1944. In the hospital several friends persuaded him to run for Congress. Using his wartime savings and the support of his friends, Mr. Teague overcame an entrenched political machine and won his seat in Congress. Sam Rayburn guided him onto the Veterans' Affairs Committee where he quickly rose to the rank of chairman. As chairman, Olin Teague left an indelible mark on the veterans' policy of the United States. He fought the American Medical Association and other critics during the 1950's to keep the veterans' medical program alive. In the late 1960's and early 1970's Mr. Teague struggled to provide the program with adequate funding despite the economy efforts of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Throughout his tenure as chairman, Teague also kept the Veterans' Administration's direct loan program operating in the face of opposition by Eisenhower's administration and provided thousands of rural veterans with an opportunity to purchase homes.