Alben W. Barkley - Later Life and Death

Later Life and Death

Barkley's term as vice-president expired January 20, 1953. He was diagnosed with cataracts and immediately after the election, he had surgery which improved his eyesight. He then signed a contract to create a series of 26 fifteen-minute commentary broadcasts called "Meet the Veep" on NBC. Ratings for these broadcasts were low, and NBC did not renew the series in September 1953. Barkley then retired to Angles, his home in Paducah. He remained a popular speaker and began working on his memoirs with journalist Sidney Shallett in between speaking engagements.

Unhappy in private life, he re-entered politics in 1954, challenging incumbent Republican Senator John Sherman Cooper. Historian Glenn Finch opined that Barkley was the only person in the state who could beat the popular Cooper. Few issues differentiated the candidates, and the campaign hinged on party politics; this notion was reinforced by visits to Kentucky by President Eisenhower, Vice-President Richard Nixon, and Senator Everett Dirksen on Cooper's behalf. Barkley once again resumed his Iron Man campaign style, frequently campaigning for sixteen hours a day and giving numerous speeches, helping to quell the "too old" meme that had cost him the presidential nomination. In the general election, he bested Cooper a vote of 434,109 to 362,948. His election helped the Democrats secure a one-vote advantage in the Senate.

Veteran West Virginia Senator Harley M. Kilgore offered to exchange seats in the chamber with Barkley, putting Barkley on the front row reserved for the chamber's most senior members and himself on the back row where the newly elected Barkley sat with freshman legislators, but Barkley declined the offer. In honor of his previous service, he was appointed to the prestigious Committee on Foreign Relations. In this position, he endorsed Eisenhower's appointment of Cooper, his most recent opponent, as U.S. Ambassador to India and Nepal. Otherwise, his lack of seniority kept him from significantly influencing the chamber's business.

On April 30, 1956, Barkley traveled to Lexington, Virginia, to give a keynote address at the Washington and Lee Mock Convention. Speaking of his willingness to sit with the other freshman senators in Congress, he closed his address with an allusion to Psalm 84:10, saying "I'm glad to sit on the back row, for I would rather be a servant in the House of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty." After uttering these words, he collapsed onstage and died of a heart attack. He was buried in Mount Kenton Cemetery near Paducah.

The River and Harbor Act of 1954 authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct a series of locks and dams along the Cumberland River. The lowermost mainstream project – designated the Lower Cumberland Project – was completed in 1966; the dam and the lake it forms were later redesignated Barkley Dam and Lake Barkley in Barkley's honor. Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah is also named for him. After the federal government rejected an offer to purchase Angles, Barkley's Paducah home, and make it a national park, it was sold at auction on June 15, 1984. In February 2008, Paducah's American Justice School of Law changed owners after failing to secure accreditation from the American Bar Association. It was renamed the Alben W. Barkley School of Law, but still failed to obtain accreditation and closed in December 2008.