Boothe was elected to his first term in the Virginia House of Delegates (a part-time position) in 1948, and was re-elected until 1955, when he ran for State Senate, also from
Alexandria, Virginia. From 1956 to 1963 Boothe served in the State Senate, in newly created (because of census changes)
District 36. Boothe was classified as a "militant moderate" or "Young Turk", one of a group challenging the
Byrd Organization of conservative, mainly rural Democrats led by U.S. Senator
Harry F. Byrd. In 1948, Boothe derailed an attempt by Byrd forces to keep
Harry S. Truman off the Presidential ballot in Virginia. Boothe is best remembered for his consistent fight to integrate Virginia's public schools, which he began predicting in a Virginia Law Review article published in 1949. Boothe and
Stuart B. Carter of rural
Fincastle, Virginia, led a group of mostly World War II veterans and from Virginia's growing cities and suburbs, which were forming a progressive wing (or challenging the Byrd Organization). The Young Turks began by securing greater education funding (Virginia had traditionally one of the lowest per capita funding levels in the country, even worse for African Americans). In 1952 they secured Virginia's approval of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a symbolic gesture since women had been granted the right to vote based on other states' actions. In 1954 the Young Turks deadlocked the General Assembly for hours past its scheduled adjournment, winning a compromise whereby part of the state's surplus revenue would fund additional services rather than dispersing everything as a tax refund (Virginia's taxes also being among the lowest in the country). When the legislature finally met, it debated the a radicalized version of the Gray Commission plan, which became known as the
Stanley Plan. That in part proposed to fund
segregation academies through tuition grants, which Boothe opposed. He and Republican state senator
Ted Dalton led a "valiant last ditch effort" to insert a "local option" in the Stanley Plan legislative package, beyond the racially segregated "pupil placement" plans, so public schools which complied with judicial desegregation orders would not have to close and deprive all students of education as the Stanley Plan proponents wanted. However, Boothe, Dalton and other moderates failed in that effort; Byrd Democrats proposed such closures despite a provision of the state constitution requiring free public education, proposing instead to modify the state constitution. Moreover, Byrd forces in the state Senate retaliated against Bootheby giving him two minor committee assignments, neither important, which some considered a way of isolating him. Boothe thus became known for his battle to keep Virginia's public schools, including those in nearby
Arlington, Virginia, open in 1958 and 1959 despite Governor
Thomas B. Stanley's ordering them to close to avoid integration. Arlington voters had rejected the proposed constitutional amendment, but it passed statewide, so that when federal judge
Albert Bryan ordered those schools integrated, the Stanley administration had ousted Campbell and the rest of Arlington's elected school board and imposed the racially segregated pupil placement plan. However, on January 19, 1959 (Robert E. Lee's birthday), both the Virginia Supreme Court and a panel of three federal district court judges in Virginia declared the Stanley Plan unconstitutional. The new governor
J. Lindsay Almond initially protested vehemently, but a month later broke with the Byrd Organization and allowed the public schools in Norfolk and Arlington to remain open and integrate peacefully pursuant to federal court orders. Boothe handily won reelection in 1959 despite a primary challenge for allowing such integration (as did segregationist
James Thomson, who had succeeded him as Alexandria's delegate). Thus, Massive Resistance did not end for several more years. A lifelong Democrat, Boothe sat on the Virginia Code Commission throughout his legislative service. He also supported the
Kennedy-
Johnson campaign in Virginia in 1960. In 1961 Boothe made an unsuccessful bid for
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on a ticket with Democratic candidates
A. E. S. Stephens (lieutenant governor running for Governor) and
T. Munford Boyd (running for attorney general). The Byrd Organization candidates, however, defeated them in the Democratic primary (Boothe losing to
Mills E. Godwin 46% to 54%, the narrowest margin of any of the progressive candidates) and ultimately won election in November. Boothe declined to seek re-election in 1963, and was succeeded by
Leroy S. Bendheim. When Senator Byrd announced his retirement from the
United States Senate (and died several months later), Boothe ran for the seat, proclaiming a progressive agenda, including diplomatic recognition of China. However, he lost the 1966 Democratic primary to Byrd's son,
Harry F. Byrd Jr. (whom, ironically, Boothe had met during their mutual naval service in World War II), by a very small margin (less than 1%, or 8,225 votes statewide). After that loss, Boothe retired from the electoral arena, although he remained politically active until ultimately sidelined by
Alzheimer's disease. Boothe headed
Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 Presidential campaign in Virginia. The following year, Boothe survived major heart surgery, and concluded his legal career. Boothe spent his final years before retiring to an assisted living facility as Director of Development for and as assistant to the dean of the
Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. ==Death and legacy==