Life and Career
Born in Pennington Gap, Lee County, Virginia, Wampler attended the public schools in Bristol, Virginia and on May 21, 1943, enlisted in the United States Navy. He served as a seaman for twenty-eight months until discharged on September 29, 1945; he then was a member of the Naval Reserve, V-6. He resumed his education and graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1948 and he studied law at the University of Virginia from 1948 to 1950. Wampler was a reporter for The Tennessean in 1950 and 1951 and was a reporter and editorial writer for Big Stone Gap (Virginia) Post in 1951. Wampler also worked as reporter and copy editor for the Bristol Herald Courier in 1951 and 1952.
Wampler was member of the board of visitors of Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia and was Republican assistant campaign manager for 9th congressional district elections in 1948. He was also the president of the Young Republican Federation of Virginia in 1950 and served as keynote speaker and permanent chairman of the 9th district Republican Convention the same year.
Wampler was elected as a Republican to the 83rd Congress (January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955), during which time he was its youngest member. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1954 to the 84th Congress; he went to work for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission from January 1955 to March 1956. Wampler was again an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1956 to the 85th Congress, and served as vice president and general manager of Wampler Brothers Furniture Company in Bristol, Virginia from 1957 to 1960 and the vice president and general manager of Wampler Carpet Company from 1961 to 1966.
Wampler was later elected to the 90th Congress and to the seven succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1983). An unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1982, he was a resident of Bristol, Virginia. His son, William C. Wampler, Jr., a Republican from Bristol, served in the Senate of Virginia from 1988 until 2012.
Read more about this topic: William C. Wampler
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