Background
Harrison was born in Alberta, Virginia, the son of Albertis S. Harrison, Senior and Lizzie, née Goodrich.
attorney general governor lawyer politician
Harrison was born in Alberta, Virginia, the son of Albertis S. Harrison, Senior and Lizzie, née Goodrich.
University of Virginia School of Law.
A Democrat associated with Virginia"s Byrd Organization, he was the 59th Governor of Virginia in 1962-1966, and the first governor of Virginia to have been born in the 20th century. He was related to Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and to United States Presidents William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison. He received an Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1928.
Harrison married Lacey Virginia Barkley c.1940.
They had two children. Harrison went into legal practice in Lawrenceville, Virginia, where he became town attorney, before being elected commonwealth"s attorney of Brunswick County.
He was elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1947. He served there for ten years, before being elected Attorney General of Virginia in 1957.
Harrison resigned as Attorney General in April 1961 to run for Governor, winning election that November with 63.84% of the vote, defeating Republican H. Clyde Pearson.
His administration increased educational financing for new schools and laboratories and raised teachers" pay. He promoted the development of state-supported colleges and technical schools as well as improved vocational training. He helped to modernize state banking laws to attract investment and accelerated highway construction.
He sat on the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, later renamed the Supreme Court of Virginia, from 1968 to 1981.
In 1968 he chaired the Commission on Constitutional Revision that drafted the 1971 Constitution of Virginia. Massive Resistance
This culminated in the closing of public schools in Prince Edward County in 1959, with white students going to a private academy at state expense while black students were left to volunteer efforts.
In 1963, a Federal court ordered the Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors to reopen the schools, a decision upheld by the United States Supreme Court. Harrison told the board to comply unless they were willing to risk prosecution.
By this time, he, like a number of other Byrd Democrats, had concluded that obstinate resistance to integration could not continue.
Harrison died of a heart attack at his home in Lawrenceville on January 23, 1995. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Lawrenceville, Virginia
The courthouse in Lawrenceville is named in his honor.
As Attorney General, Harrison was responsible for defending the state"s resistance to school integration, as part of the Massive Resistance strategy endorsed and led by the state"s political leader, United States Senator Harry F. Byrd.
