In 1961, at age 27, he was sworn into office in Austin, Texas. When Wilson returned to duty, his family and friends went door to door campaigning. This action violated Navy regulations, as active-duty service members are prohibited from holding public office. Navy and entered his name into the race for Texas state representative of his home district on the Democratic ticket. While volunteering in Kennedy's campaign, Wilson took a 30-day leave from the U.S.
While Wilson worked at the Pentagon, he volunteered to help in John F. After Hazard was defeated by a margin of 16 votes, Wilson went to his house to tell him that his black constituents voted to defeat him, and he "shouldn't poison any more dogs." Wilson cited this as "the day fell in love with America." As patrons left the car, Wilson told each of them that he didn't want to influence their vote, but that the incumbent Hazard had purposely killed his dog. Following this incident, Wilson obtained a driver's permit and drove ninety-six voters to the polls in his family's two-door Chevrolet. Hazard retaliated by mixing crushed glass into the dog's food, causing fatal internal bleeding. When Wilson was thirteen years old, his fourteen-year-old dog entered Hazard's yard. Wilson's early sense of patriotism and his strong interest in international affairs encouraged him to become politically active later in life.Īccording to Wilson himself, he first entered politics as a teenager by running a campaign against his next-door neighbor, city council incumbent Charles Hazard. Wilson even took the opportunity as a child to "keep watch" over Trinity for Japanese aerial attacks from his post in the back yard. This led Wilson to have a lifelong admiration for Winston Churchill. Growing up during World War II encouraged Wilson to avidly read military history, including numerous articles and other literature on the war. Early political career highlights įrom a young age, Wilson took an interest in national security and foreign matters. He was assigned to the Pentagon as part of an intelligence unit that evaluated the Soviet Union's nuclear forces. īetween 19, Wilson served in the United States Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant and serving as the Gunnery Officer on the USS John W.
degree in Engineering, specializing in electronics. Wilson graduated eighth from the bottom of his class in 1956 with a B.S. While at Annapolis, Wilson earned the second most demerits in the history of the academy (his roommate, Robert Mullen, earned the most demerits). Growing up, Wilson attended Trinity public schools and, upon graduation from Trinity High School in 1951, he attended one semester at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, before being appointed to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Wilson had one younger sister, Sharon Wilson Allison, former chair of Planned Parenthood and president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, who currently resides in Waco, Texas. Wilson was born in the small town of Trinity, Texas, to Charles Edwin Wilson, an accountant for a local timber company, and Wilmuth (née Nesbitt), a local florist, on June 1, 1933.
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