Early political career Patman was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1920. He left the House in 1924 when he was appointed district attorney of the fifth judicial district of Texas. It was during the consideration of this bill that the
Bonus Army came to Washington. Patman was a supporter of the
New Deal. In January 1932, Patman spearheaded a movement to impeach Treasury Secretary
Andrew Mellon, which forced the latter's resignation the following month. In 1935, Patman took on the cause of independent retailers, who were engaged in a nationwide battle to stop the growth of chain retailing by taxing chains and restricting their business practices. Patman in the House and
Joseph Taylor Robinson in the
United States Senate were the sponsors of the 1936
Robinson-Patman Act, an effort to preserve independent wholesalers and retail outlets ("Mom and Pop stores") by preventing manufacturers or large retailers from becoming involved in wholesaling. Patman was one of four members of the Texas congressional delegation to originally sign the "
Southern Manifesto," a resolution in protest of the
United States Supreme Court decision in
Brown v. Board of Education. Patman voted against the
Civil Rights Acts of 1957, the
Civil Rights Acts of 1960, the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964, and the
Civil Rights Acts of 1968 as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Watergate inquiry Wright Patman's namesake committee played an important role in the early days of the
Watergate scandal that eventually brought down the
Nixon Administration. , Chairman of the House Ways and Means|alt= The Patman Committee investigated the hundred dollar bills found on the
Watergate "plumbers" upon their arrest, suspecting they could directly link them to
CREEP, the president's re-election committee. The Patman Committee's 1972 investigation was stymied by pressure from the White House, in part aided by Congressman
Gerald R. Ford. Despite these efforts to stop Patman,
The Washington Post followed up with original reporting about the money trail and helped lead to the establishment of the Senate Select Committee on Watergate in April 1973.
Loss of chairmanship In 1975, Patman was voted out of his position as Chairman of the Banking committee by younger Congressmen, in a revolt against the 'Seniority system' which also removed
Felix Edward Hébert and
William R. Poage from their positions as chairmen. Patman was replaced by
Henry S. Reuss by a caucus vote of 152–117. The main reason given for the caucus removing Patman was concern about his age and effectiveness. ==Personal life==