BROWNSVILLE'S FIRST CONGRESSMAN

Justo Leyes' new office near the corner of 5th and Washington was once the residence of the first congressman in the history of this border city who called Brownsville home. His name was Milton H. West.

West was born near Gonzales in 1888. He attended military school in San Antonio before enlisting with the Texas Rangers in 1911. He arrived in Brownsville a lawyer and opened his practice in 1917. In the 1920s he served as both assistant district attorney and district attorney. In 1930 he won a seat as a state representative and served in Austin until 1933.

His big break nationally came when John Nance Garner, then Speaker of House, resigned to become Franklin Roosevelt's vice president. West ran as a Democrat with Garner's endorsement and won easily. He served eight consecutive terms until his death in Washington D.C. in 1948. He is buried at Buena Vista Cemetery.

"He was a conservative Democrat in the tradition of Stephen Powers and Jim Wells," said Dr. Tony Zavaleta. "He was both a complicated and stubborn man. With the arrival of the railroads to the Valley at the turn of the 20th century, a large migration of Mid-Westerns moved to the border. They became the dominating political force and West benefited from their support.

"West earned the enmity of President Franklin Roosevelt," continued Zavaleta. "He and seven other prominent Texas congressman would not support the President's New Deal policies. Roosevelt called them 'copperheads' and campaigned in Texas to have them purged from the party. He failed.

"If West were alive today, he would not be a member of the corrupt and contemptible Cameron County Democratic Party. He would be a Republican."