Oakley Haldeman

{{Short description|American songwriter}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2007}}

Oakley W. Haldeman (July 17, 1909 – December 17, 1986) was an American songwriter ("Here Comes Santa Claus"), composer, author and the general manager for a music publisher. He joined ASCAP in 1949, and his other popular-song compositions include "Brush Those Tears from Your Eyes", "I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine", "Tho' I Tried", "Pretty Mary", "Texas Polka", "Honey Child", "Vic'try Train", "Last Mile", and "Texans Never Cry".

Haldeman was born in California, the son of Catherine (Oakley) and Clarence Edward Haldeman.{{cite web|url=https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MH79-H16|title=Person Details for Oakley W Haldeman in household of Clarence E Haldeman, "United States Census, 1920"|website=Familysearch.org|access-date=16 February 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.myheritage.com/names/clarence_haldeman|title=Clarence Haldeman|website=Myheritage.com|access-date=16 February 2015}}

He was the head of Gene Autry's publishing company, and it was while he was in this position that Autry asked him to write the music for Autry's song Here Comes Santa Claus.{{Cite book |last=Cusic |first=Don |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VH9ZgvtpZcC&dq=Oakley+Haldeman&pg=PA68 |title=The Cowboy in Country Music: An Historical Survey with Artist Profiles |date=2011-07-29 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8605-2 |language=en}}