Man, now yew got ME a reeding this stuff!!

http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/summer96/p96su10b.htm

Co-author of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

SEN. ALBERT GORE SR.

Born on a hard-rock Tennessee farm on Dec. 26, 1907, Albert Gore attended a
one-room school in Possum Hollow. After graduating from high school, he
began teaching while earning a degree from Middle Tennessee Teachers
College. After winning the post of superintendent of education for Smith
County, he enrolled in law classes to secure the legal background he felt he
needed for a career in politics. For three years, he drove 170 kilometers
from his home in Carthage to Nashville and back, three nights a week, for
his classes. He received his law degree in 1936 and was married in 1937.

He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1938 and served for
14 years before successfully challenging Sen. Kenneth McKellar, an
entrenched veteran with 35 years of service in the Senate. Taking office as
a senator in 1953, Gore was assigned to the Public Works Committee, becoming
chairman of the Subcommittee on Roads when the Democrats gained control of
Congress in 1955. In this position, he played a pivotal role in rejecting
the Clay Committee's proposals and drafting the Federal-Aid Highway Act of
1956. He retained a strong interest in the interstate system even after
transferring to the Foreign Affairs Committee in 1959.

In 1956, Gore was a contender, along with senators John F. Kennedy and Estes
Kefauver, for the Democratic vice presidential nomination under Adlai
Stevenson. Ultimately, Kefauver won the nomination, but the
Stevenson-Kefauver ticket had little chance against the incumbents,
President Dwight Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon. Gore's son,
Sen. Albert Gore Jr., became vice president in 1993.

Described as "a maverick, a populist who regularly voted against the wishes
of his constituents when he felt the broader national interest required it,"
the senior Gore opposed the Vietnam War, refused to sign the Southern
Manifesto opposing integration, and voted for civil rights bills. In 1970,
he was defeated in his bid for reelection in what has been described as "one
of the meanest races the state has ever seen." He went on to a successful
career in law and business.

Albert Gore Sr. and his wife reside on their farm in Carthage, Tenn.