Dale Alford
American politician (1916-2000)
Thomas Dale Alford Sr. (January 28, 1916 – January 25, 2000) was an American ophthalmologist and politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas who served as a conservative Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from Little Rock from 1959 to 1963.
Early years and education
Alford was born to Thomas H. Alford and the former Ida Womack in the small community of Newhope near Murfreesboro in Pike County in southwestern Arkansas. He attended public schools at Rector in Clay County in far northeastern Arkansas. He graduated from high school in 1932, a year ahead of schedule.
Alford first attended Arkansas State College in Jonesboro in eastern Arkansas, followed by the Arkansas State Teachers College in Conway, and received his medical degree in 1939 from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at Little Rock.
Military service and medical practice
Alford served as a captain during World War II in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1940 to 1946. He was on active duty as a surgeon in the European Theater of operations. Afterwards, from 1947 to 1948, he was an assistant professor at Methodist-affiliated Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elections to Congress, 1958 and 1960
Alford was elected as a write-in candidate in the 1958 general election that occurred in the aftermath of the Little Rock Crisis.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q664816. VIAF identifies the subject as 46572122. The Library of Congress control number is no2008067255. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1916, 2000, 1959 and 1963.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dale Alford” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.