ABSTRACT
Democrat Wright Patman represented Texas's First Congressional District from 1929 until his death in 1976. Wright Patman hoped Roosevelt would support his plan for payment of the bonus linked to the currency reform measures that he had endorsed during his first four years in Congress. Scholarly analysis of the tactics he used in these legislative campaigns sheds new light on Patman's national significance. For Patman the issue that attracted most of his attention in the New Deal years was the pension program for World War I veterans more commonly known as the bonus. Patman also contributed articles for the wire services to generate support for his cause nationwide. The evolution of Patman's leadership skills became apparent as the New Deal progressed. In December 1934, Patman expanded the reaches of his entrepreneurial leadership into the publishing world when he released two books that presented his argument for payment of the bonus.
