Ovie Clark Fisher (November 22, 1903 – December 9, 1994) was an attorney and author who served for 32 years as the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for

Texas's 21st congressional district Texas's 21st congressional district of the United States House of Representatives serves the area north of San Antonio and a significant portion of Austin in the state of Texas. Towns entirely or partially in this district include Boerne, Fre ...

Early life

Fisher was born in

Junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

in Kimble County,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

to Jobe Bazilee and Rhoda Catherine Clark Fisher. Texas State Historical Association He married Marian E. De Walsh on September 11, 1927. A daughter named Rhoda was the couple's only child. Fisher attended

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

, and

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the ...

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

, from which he received his LL.B. He was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in 1929.

Career

Fisher practiced law in

San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Pl ...

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

for two years. In 1931, he was elected

county attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a lo ...

for Tom Green County. Fisher represented the 53rd District of Texas in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

from 1935 to 1937. From 1937 to 1943, Fisher was District Attorney for the 51st Judicial District of Texas. In 1942, he was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

and served in the

78th Congress The 78th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1943, ...

to the

93rd Congress The 93rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1973, ...

. In 1972, the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Doug Harlan Doug is a male personal name (or, depending on which definition of "personal name" one uses, part of a personal name). It is sometimes a given name (or "first name"), but more often it is hypocorism (affectionate variation of a personal name) which ...

held Fisher to 57 percent of the general election vote. Paul Burka of ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' said Harlan's success was "one of the first indications that the dominance of the rural conservative Democrats in Texas politics could not be sustained." Fisher was one of five U.S. representatives from Texas to sign the " Southern Manifesto" in protest of the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

's decision in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

''. After heart surgery in 1973, Fisher announced that he would not be stand for re-election in 1974. His party nominated

Robert Krueger Robert Charles Krueger (September 19, 1935 – April 30, 2022) was an American diplomat, politician, and U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Texas, a U.S. Ambassador, and a member of the Democratic Party. , he was the last Democrat t ...

as his successor, who defeated Harlan, who made his second and last race for Congress. Fisher died on December 9, 1994.

Legacy

is the repository for the O.C. Fisher Papers. In 1975, San Angelo Lake, a reservoir managed by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

was renamed O.C. Fisher Reservoir in his honor. San Angelo State Park is on the shores of the reservoir.

Fraternal memberships

Fisher had membership in the following organizations: * Freemasons *

Order of the Eastern Star The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. It was established in by lawyer and educator Rob Morris, a noted Freemason, and adopted and approved as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity in 187 ...

* Knights of Pythias * Rotary International *

Acacia fraternity Acacia Fraternity, Inc. is a social fraternity founded in 1904 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The fraternity has 27 active chapters and 3 associate chapters throughout Canada and the United States. The fraterni ...

Works

* * * * * * * * *

References

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, O. C. 1903 births 1994 deaths People from Junction, Texas People from San Angelo, Texas University of Colorado alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Baylor University alumni County district attorneys in Texas Democratic Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American politicians Historians from Texas 20th-century American male writers