Poage working the ground in the Botanical Center of Washington, DC on May 6, 1937.
In 1936, Poage was elected to the House of Representatives. He was later diagnosed with Ménière's disease, which eventually left him deaf in one ear. In the House, he supported acts designed to help the rural residents of his district. He supported the farm price supports of the Roosevelt Administration, and worked to keep farmers prosperous.[1] Poage was the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture from 1967 to 1975, until he was removed from his position in a revolt by House Democratic Caucus against the Seniority system. The Caucus considered Poage to be too conservative and he was replaced by Tom Foley (D-WA), a future Speaker of the House.
Poage did not run for re-election in 1978 and retired on December 31, 1978, 4 days before the official end of his 21st term in office. He returned to his home in Waco, Texas. The following year the W. R. Poage Legislative Library for Graduate Studies and Research was dedicated on the Baylor University Campus to house Poage's congressional papers and the papers of eight other former U. S. Congressmen.[11] On January 3, 1987, he died of heart failure at 87 years old after receiving open heart surgery.[12]
^Lemann, Nicholas. (1991). The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America (1st ed.). New York: A.A. Knopf. p. 156. ISBN0-394-56004-3. OCLC22240548.