Marvin Leath; ‘Boll Weevil’ Democrat Congressman

Former Rep. Marvin Leath, 69, a conservative Texas Democrat who spent more than a decade in Congress. Leath was one of the founders of the “Boll Weevils,” a group of Southern Democrats who worked closely with Republicans in Congress on fiscal and budget issues. Leath was a member of the House Budget Committee and chairman of the panel’s subcommittee on foreign affairs and defense. He also was a member of the House Armed Services Committee. After retiring in 1990, he formed his own government relations consulting business and represented some of the nation’s largest defense-related companies. James Marvin Leath was born in Rusk County, Texas, in 1931. As a teenager, he worked with his father in the east Texas oil fields. He attended the University of Texas on a football scholarship, helping the Longhorns win the Cotton Bowl in 1953. He graduated from the university with a degree in business administration before serving in the Army for two years. Leath was president and owner of four rural banks in central Texas when he decided to run for Congress, winning election in 1978 to the 11th District in Texas. He polled more than 90% of the vote in each of his successive reelection bids. In 1980 and 1984 he won 100% of the vote. On Friday in a Washington hospital after a short illness.