Page Belcher
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromOklahoma
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	George H. Wilson
Succeeded by	James R. Jones
Constituency	8th district (1951–1953) 1st district (1953–1973)
Personal details
Born	(1899-04-21)April 21, 1899 Jefferson, Oklahoma Territory
Died	August 2, 1980(1980-08-02) (aged 81) Midwest City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Gladys Collins ​ (m. 1922)​
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Oklahoma
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Battles/wars	World War I

Page Henry Belcher (April 21, 1899 – August 2, 1980) was an AmericanRepublican politician and aU.S. Representative fromOklahoma.

Belcher was born inJefferson in northern Oklahoma to George Harvey Belcher and Jessie Ray.^[1] He was educated atpublic schools in Jefferson, andMedford, Oklahoma. Belcher attendedFriends University, aprivatenon-denominationalChristian university inWichita,Kansas. He served as aprivate in theStudent Army Training Corps at theUniversity of Oklahoma duringWorld War I. While in college he studiedlaw^[2] and played for the 1918Oklahoma Sooners football team.^[3]

After the war, Belcher worked as manager of his father's Oklahoma car dealership. He wasadmitted to the bar in 1936 and began a legal practice inEnid.^[2] In 1934, he was elected county clerk ofGarfield County and served from 1934 to 1938. He also served on the Enid Board of Education and as judge of Enid's municipal court.^[4] Belcher served as executive assistant to U.S. RepresentativeRoss Rizley during Rizley's first term in Congress (1941–1943) and later managed several of Rizley's reelection campaigns. He served as Republican chairman of the 8th congressional district, and was also the executive secretary of the Oklahoma Republican Party.

In 1950, Belcher was elected to Congress, where he served for two years as the last representative of Oklahoma's 8th congressional district before it was eliminated in congressional reapportionment. After most of the 8th's territory was merged with theTulsa-based1st district, Belcher ran for reelection there, and held the seat until retiring in 1973.^[5] After his home in Enid was drawn out of the district during a mid-decade redistricting in 1967, Belcher moved to Tulsa.

In Congress, Belcher was a member of theAgriculture Committee and its wheat subcommittee, eventually rising to ranking Republican on that committee. In that role, he facilitated passage of legislation related to theArkansas River Navigation System.^[6]

Breaking with many of his regional colleagues, Belcher refused to sign the 1956Southern Manifesto, and he voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957 and1960,^[7][8] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and theVoting Rights Act of 1965,^[9][10] but voted against theCivil Rights Acts of 1964 and1968.^[11][12] In 1971, Belcher was the sole Republican in the state's congressional delegation to vote for theEqual Employment Opportunity Act.^[13]

Belcher usually had easy reelection campaigns because the Tulsa area was friendly to Republicans, but was nearly defeated in 1958 due to discontent over theEisenhower administration's farm policy. He faced another credible challenge in 1970, when formerJohnson administration officialJames R. Jones held him to only 55 percent of the vote. With Jones priming for a rematch in 1972, Belcher announced that June that he was retiring due to age and poor health. Jones then won the seat in the subsequent election.

Page Belcher was married on June 16, 1922, to Gladys Collins. The two had a son, Page Jr., and a daughter, Carol. Belcher was a Methodist, a Member of the Kiwanis, American Legion, and Odd Fellows.^[14] He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Following his retirement, he moved toMidwest City where he died on August 2, 1980, at the age of 81.^[2] He is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Enid, Oklahoma. After his retirement from Congress, the federal courthouse inTulsa was named in his honor.^[2] In addition, Tulsa is home to the Page Belcher golf course.^[15]

 This article incorporatespublic domain material fromBiographical Directory of the United States Congress.Federal government of the United States.

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Belcher, Page
• Page Belcher atFind a Grave
• Page H. Belcher Collection andPhotograph Collection at theCarl Albert Center

• 1899 births
• 1980 deaths
• United States Army personnel of World War I
• Friends University alumni
• School board members in Oklahoma
• Military personnel from Oklahoma
• Politicians from Enid, Oklahoma
• People from Grant County, Oklahoma
• Lawyers from Oklahoma City
• Oklahoma lawyers
• Oklahoma Sooners football players
• University of Oklahoma alumni
• People from Midwest City, Oklahoma
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma
• People from Medford, Oklahoma
• United States Army soldiers
• 20th-century American lawyers
• 20th-century Oklahoma politicians
• County clerks in Oklahoma
• Municipal judges in Oklahoma
• 20th-century United States representatives

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2021
• Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress