One of the most powerful and most respected figures in the history of the United States Congress, Speaker of the House Carl Albert twice stood a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

The Speaker is second in line of succession. For several months in 1973, after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew, and again in 1974, after the resignation of President Richard Nixon and the elevation of Vice President Gerald Ford, Albert became heir apparent.

The "Little Giant from Little Dixie" represented the third Congressional district of Oklahoma for 30 years, beginning with the 80th Congress in 1947. He was House majority whip, House majority leader, and was elected Speaker in 1971. He served on many important committees and supervised the legislative process for such laws as the Civil Rights Act, Secondary Education Act, Voting Rights Act, and War Powers Act.

Albert left Congress in 1976, and three years later, on the 100th anniversary of Will Rogers' birth, he received the first Will Rogers Award as the person who best exemplified the character of the great humorist. Many other awards followed and his autobiography, Little Giant, published in 1990, was the Oklahoma Book of the Year.

Born in 1908, Albert attended rural school in Bug Tussle, Oklahoma, and high school in nearby McAlester, where he won a Midwest oratorical contest. The prize was a trip to Europe, and a visit with President Coolidge. He entered the University of Oklahoma in 1927, where he was a member of the wrestling team and the debate team. Upon graduation in 1931, he began studies at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, obtaining a degree in law in 1933 and another in civil law in 1934.

Albert joined the U. S. Army as a private in 1941 and was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel, after serving in the Pacific Theater. He practiced law before his election to Congress in 1946.