Poage Library Hosts Ben Barnes As Inaugural Lecturer

Media Contact: Tina Libhart, Baylor University Libraries, (254) 710-6675

The W.R. Poage Legislative Library at Baylor University will present Former Texas Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes as the guest speaker for its inaugural political lecture series. The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, April 23, in the Meadows Recital Hall of the Glennis McCrary Music Building.

Barnes is the author of Barn Burning, Barn Building: Tales of a Political Life from LBJ to George W. Bush and Beyond. The Baylor Bookstore will host a book signing at 4 p.m. prior to the lecture.

Admission to both the book-signing and lecture is free.

While still in college, Barnes won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives. By 1962, on a congressman's recommendation, he was a top lieutenant to a little-known gubernatorial candidate who went on to win - John Connally. By 1965, Barnes was House speaker at age 26, the youngest speaker in state history. Three years later democrat Barnes catapulted himself to Lieutenant Governor of Texas - again the youngest ever.

In his new book, Barn Burning, Barn Building, Barnes reveals an insider's look at the American political scene in the 1960s, when Democrats held a firm grasp on the nation's politics. A pupil of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Ben Barnes had an up-close and personal view of the nation's inner political workings. Barn Burning, Barn Building demonstrates how Texas, a state formerly dominated by Democrats, became a state controlled by Republicans, and Barnes discusses this trend.

Currently, Barnes is Founder and Principal of The Ben Barnes Group, a business consulting and lobbying firm in Austin and Washington, D.C.

For more information, contact Ben Rogers, director of the Poage Library, at (254) 710-3540.