Richard Nixon easily carried the 1st in the presidential election (Nixon won Tulsa County with a staggering 78 percent of the vote). He is the first and only Democrat to have represented Tulsa in Congress since Dixie Gilmer left office in 1951. Jones was re-elected six times, serving until January 1987. As a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, Jones secured House backing for a conservative tax cut in 1978. In 1979, he joined the House Budget Committee. Jones also was able to get Democrats to add more fiscal conservatives to the Budget Committee. Jones decided to give up his House seat in 1986 to run against Republican incumbent U.S. Senator Don Nickles, even though he'd only narrowly defeated future Governor Frank Keating two years earlier for reelection to his House seat. He lost to Nickles by 10 points. He is also a member of the advisory board for the Mexico Institute. Work after Congress In 1987, Jones resumed the practice of law, joining the Washington-based firm of Dickstein Shapiro. He later served as the Chairman of the American Stock Exchange (1989 to 1993). After the election of Democratic President Bill Clinton, Jones was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and served from 1993 until 1997. In February, 2003, he was inaugurated Chairman of the World Affairs Councils of America. Presently, he is a resident of Tulsa and Washington, D.C. He is a partner in the law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. He also serves on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. In 1994, Jones was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. The Constitution Project Jones agreed to serve on The Constitution Project's Guantanamo Task Force in December 2010. See also Politics of Oklahoma Oklahoma Democratic Party Oklahoma Congressional Districts United States Ambassador to Mexico References External links Jones bio at the Council of American Ambassadors webpage Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Jones, James Voices of Oklahoma interview with James R. Jones. First person interview conducted on July 27, 2012, with James R. Jones. James R. Jones Collection at the Carl Albert Center. |- |- |- |- |- |- 1939 births Ambassadors of the United States to Mexico Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Oklahoma Georgetown University Law Center alumni Lawyers from Tulsa, Oklahoma Living people Lyndon B. Johnson administration