Jim Wright (born December 22, 1922), usually known as Jim Wright, is a former U.S. Congressman from Texas who served 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and was the Speaker of the House from 1987 to 1989. Wright was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended Fort Worth and Dallas public schools, then studied at Weatherford College and the University of Texas at Austin. In December of 1941 he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, and after training was commissioned as a U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. as a bombardier in 1942. He earned a Distinguished Flying Cross during combat in the South Pacific during World War II. His retelling of his wartime exploits is contained in his 2005 book The Flying Circus: Pacific War --1943-- As Seen through A Bombsight.
After the war he made his home in Weatherford, Texas where he joined partners in forming a Trade Show exhibition and marketing firm. He also joined the Democratic Party. In 1946 he won his first election, to the Texas State House of Representatives, where he served from 1947 to 1949. He was Mayor of Weatherford from 1950-1954, serving as President of the League of Texas Municipalities in 1953.
In 1954, he was elected to Congress from Texas' 12th District, which included Weatherford and was based in Fort Worth. He would be re-elected fourteen times, gradually rising in prominence in the party and in Congress. He was elected House Majority Leader in 1979, serving there until 1987 when he was elected the Speaker of the House. In 1988 he chaired the Party's Convention that nominated Michael Dukakis for President.
In the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, Jim Wright is known for the contentious Wright Amendment, a law he sponsored that restricted air travel out of Dallas' secondary airport, Love Field.
