James M. Collins

Who was James M. Collins?

James Mitchell Collins, often known as Jim Collins, was a Republican who represented the Third Congressional District of Texas from 1968-1983. The district was based at the time about Irving in Dallas County.

Collins was born in Hallsville in Harrison County, in East Texas. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School and Southern Methodist University in University Park and from Harvard Business School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Collins then entered the United States Army, having served as a lieutenant in the Third Army of General George S. Patton, Jr., during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

Collins was first elected to the U.S. House in a special election caused by the death of Rep. Joe R. Pool in 1968. In the general election that fall, he received 81,696 votes to 55,939 for Democrat Robert H. Hughes.