Former congressman and judge Homer Thornberry was a lifelong public servant widely respected for his integrity and championship of equal rights. The only child of destitute deaf-mute parents, he is one of just a few dozen individuals in US history to serve at least ten years in both the legislative and judicial branches at the federal level.
Then-senator Lyndon Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn each considered Thornberry a valuable ally and close personal friend. They constituted part of a small minority of southern congressmen who helped pass watershed civil rights bills amid social...