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April 1939. "Wholesale truck in front of grocery store. San Augustine, Texas." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Who are the little guys in the cleaner's window?
The other telephone pole candidate is Robert Alda "Bob" Stuart, a former state senator and Fort Worth wheeler-dealer who ran for railroad commissioner in the 1938 Democratic primary. He finished fourth. In the same primary W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel was effectively elected governor.
The tractor is a 1939 International Model D-30. There are at least 11 patches in the trailer roof. There is a hole in the grille for a hand crank. Doubt if it was ever used. The driver had to disconnect his air brake lines to be able to jackknife the truck into the loading dock. Air brake gladhands (airline connectors) and electrical plug are normally mounted in the three holes on the front of the trailer frame. I wonder why they were moved? I’m guessing the metal box behind the spare tire is actually some kind of tank.
Looks like the Nu-Way storefront still houses a cleaners. At least it did in Oct. 2013, when this Google Street View was taken.
Ralph Yarborough ran for Texas Attorney General in 1938, but finished in 3rd place. He eventually, however, became a United States Senator for Texas from 1957 to 1972. On November 22, 1963, he was in the second car in the motorcade rather than with President Kennedy, as he and John Connally were not on friendly terms.
He was an old fashioned Texas liberal, seventh child of eleven, and given to such sentiments as "Let's put the jam on the lower shelf so the little people can reach it."
J. Frank Dobie called Yarborough "perhaps the best-read man that Texas has ever sent to Washington" (let's not get into any heated discussions concerning the state of literacy in the State of Texas).
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