However you knew him–as the Honorable J.J. Pickle (D-Texas), Representative Jake Pickle, J.J. (Jake) Pickle, or simply “Jake”– James Jarrell Pickle was 
probably a memorable person to you. He was a man who truly found his calling, and whose calling was a perfect match for the qualities with which he was endowed by birth, upbringing and early experience. A brief but worthwhile biographical essay of Jake’s early background and career can be found at the site of the Texas State Historical Association.
Several years after his retirement from his 32-year career in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Pickle, at the urging of his nephew Gary Pickle, agreed to record a series of his recollections of various events from his past. The recordings began in the office space that Jake maintained at the law firm of Brown McCarroll in downtown Austin. Subsequently, the interviews continued in the office he had set up in his home on Hillview Drive. The initial plan was to “see how it goes”, in order to evaluate how comfortable Jake was with talking one-on-one to a camera, with little prompting from an interviewer. It quickly became apparent that this would be no problem, and was less and less a problem as the recordings progressed. In fact, the hope was to record many more than the 27 individual accounts that appear on this site, but schedules and ultimately, failing health intervened.
The original intent was to use the recordings in conjunction with the myriad of photographs taken over the course of a very public career, so that the on-camera narrative would serve to explain and in turn, be supported by the photographs. It was envisioned that some sort of location could be established in which to permanently display an exhibition of all these materials. But this was not to be, and many of those photos were filed away into storage before the editing of the video clips was ever undertaken, leaving the video recordings, at least for the time being, to speak for themselves.
In the time since the recordings were made (probably around the year 2000), advances in the Internet have afforded an opportunity that previously did not exist to display the informal chats that were captured. The reality may be that this medium will put these glimpses of Jake enthusiastically recalling some of his greatest accomplishments (and gaffes) within the reach of many more than would ever have seen them in a fixed exhibit.
So, the revised plan has become to post the 27 video clips that are in hand, beginning now, and to augment them with photographs, as those can be retrieved from the archives and from other sources and put onto this site. Enjoy your visit with Jake, submit your comments and add your participation to the support of this site. if you wish.