RightDataUSA


Bill Nichols

[Congressional biography]

Born: October 16, 1918 in Becker, MS
Died: December 13, 1988 in Washington, DC (heart attack)

Education:

  • Auburn University, B.S., 1939, M.S., 1941

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1942-1947
  • Awarded Bronze Star and Purple Heart

Career:

  • VP of Parker Fertilizer Co. and President of Parker Gin Co., 1947-1966

Elected Office:

  • AL House, 1959-1962
  • AL Senate, 1963-1966


Election Results for Bill Nichols


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1966 47 AL D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 52,452 59.1%
1966 47 AL D U.S. House District 04 General 1 51,863 58.4%
1968 49 AL D U.S. House District 04 General 1 94,726 81.4%
1970 51 AL D U.S. House District 04 General 1 77,701 83.7%
1972 53 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 100,045 75.6%
1974 55 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 63,582 95.9%
1976 57 AL D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 93,905 91.6%
1976 57 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 106,935 99.0%
1978 59 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 74,895 100.0%
1980 61 AL D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 49,323 85.1%
1980 61 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 107,654 98.6%
1982 63 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 100,864 96.3%
1984 65 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 120,357 96.2%
1986 67 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 115,127 80.6%
1988 69 AL D U.S. House District 03 Primary 1 70,087 90.0%
1988 69 AL D U.S. House District 03 General 1 117,514 96.1%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Bill Nichols


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1967 48 House 91 4 34 62 D 45 43 89 7 100
1968 49 House 65 4 18 54 D 32 42 71 0 86
1969 50 House 71 9 27 49 R 40 47 84 7 92
1970 51 House 66 2 39 43 R 45 37 80 13 71
1971 52 House 86 3 28 60 R 65 19 88 3 100
1972 53 House 52 6 27 34 R 35 22 64 0 75
1973 54 House 91 4 36 58 R 52 38 88 8 79
1974 55 House 82 7 28 57 R 51 40 86 4 65
1975 56 House 84 11 32 62 R 48 47 93 5* 74
1976 57 House 82 6 30 59 R 49 37 89 6 81
1977 58 House 88 7 31 62 D 44 46 92 5 70
1978 59 House 84 5 29 60 D 32 59 87 5 79
1979 60 House 90 6 32 60 D 36 55 89 11 69
1980 61 House 82 4 34 52 D 49 44 86 17 63
1981 62 House 88 8 36 58 R 68 24 91 11 83
1982 63 House 88 7 46 43 R 52 38 87 5 67
1983 64 House 82 11 42 49 R 49 44 88 28 71
1984 65 House 80 10 43 39 R 50 40 88 10 67
1985 66 House 87 4 55 34 R 61 36 91 11 63
1986 67 House 80 0 36 35 R 49 36 74 11 65
1987 68 House 93 2 56 34 R 47 44 89 25 48
1988 69 House 87 3 51 30 R 38 44 84 33 73
Lifetime conservative rating:   73%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.