Texas Almanac, 1968-1969 Page: 72
This book is part of the collection entitled: Texas Almanac and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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72 TEXAS ALMANAC-1968-1969
U.S. Senator Price Daniel ran for gover-
nor in the 1936 Democratic primaries and won
in the second primary; the vote was Daniel
698,001, Ralph Yarborough 694,830.
To fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate, a
special election was held April 2, 1957. Eigh-
teen men made the race and Ralph Yar-
borough was elected by a plurality required
to win in this special election.
Daniel resigned from the U.S. Senate Jan.
14, 1957, and was inaugurated governor Jan.
15. The Fifty-fifth Legislature convened Jan.
8 and adjourned May 23, 1957. Legislation on
which to base a better state water conserva-
tion program was the principal issue. Meas-
ures passed included a proposed constitution-
al amendment for a state bond issue of $200,-
000,000 to assist municipalities in financing
water supply projects. Twelve proposed
amendments were submitted.
Several insurance company failures, 1955
and 1956, caused the Legislature to reorgan-
ize the State Board of Insurance Commis-
sioners. Also a new Securities Commission
was set up, consolidating the former secur-
ities divisions that had existed separately.
A law enacted made it illegal for a public
school board to abolish segregation of white
and Negro children without approval of the
district by an election. In 1954 the U.S. Su-
preme Court had voided the segregation laws
of the Southern States but gave school boards
time to plan desegregation, or integration.
Some Texas schools complied by abolishing
segregation, chiefly where the lNegro popu-
lation is small. A large majority of the
schools delayed desegregation. Several in-
junction suits to enforce desegregation were
decided against Texas school boards by fed-
eral courts. The act of the Legislature was
an attempt to operate schools on an optional
basis, with dominant local control.
Other important legislation included
strengthened narcotics laws, statewide traffic
safety program, schoolteacher pay raise and
provided for a state office building, and ar-
chives and library building.
Gov. Price Daniel was elected to his sec-
ond term in 1958. In the first Democratic pri-
mary he polled 799,107 votes against his two
leading opponents, Henry B. Gonzalez of San
Antonio, 245,969; and W. Lee O'Daniel, Dal-
las, 238,767.
Finances were the chief problem of the
Fifty-sixth Legislature which met in Jan-
uary, 1959. A deficit of about $60,000,000 had
accumulated in the state's general fund. The
state was on a constitutional pay-as-you-go
financial policy under an amendment adopted
during the Stevenson administration. An
abrupt decline in tax revenues from oil was
the principal reason for the deficit.
Three called sessions, in addition to the
regular session, kept the Fifty-sixth Legisla-
ture at work until it appropriated a record
state budget.
Texas in the 1960s
The first five years of the 1960s saw Texas
share in a nationwide unprecedented pros-
perity, marked by rising costs and incomes.
Urbanization, which had reached 75 per cent
by the 1960 Census, continued, complicating
problems of cities and the rural counties
which lost population to them.
In 1961, the Fifty-seventh Legislature en-
acted the state's first sales tax. Its revenues
aided in financing record state expenditures
of approximately 1.3 billion dollars in fiscal
1962-63, 1.5 billions in 1963-64 and 1.6 billions
in 1964-65.
September, 1961, saw one of Texas' worst
hurricanes, Carla, smash the coast, but time-
ly warnings and evacuations held casualties
low.
To fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by
Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson, John
Tower won a special election in 1961, be-coming the first Republican Senator from
Texas since Reconstruction. Seventy-two can-
didates ran for this office. The next year's
general election sent eight Republicans to
the Texas House of Representatives and Con-
gressman Ed Foreman of Odessa to Wash-
ington. Republican Rep. Bruce Alger also
was re-elected. Democrats, however, con-
trolled all state offices, including the gover-
norship which John B. Connally won after de-
feating incumbent Gov. Price Daniel and
other Democrats, and Republican Jack Cox.
In 1962, both major political parties pro-
posed pari-mutuel betting only to have it de-
feated in a referendum. (Texans had author-
ized this gambling in 1933, then outlawed it
in 1937.)
In 1963, the Fifty-eighth Legislature adopt-
ed most of Gov. Connally's proposals, prin-
cipally stressing higher education, tourism
and economic development. Illegalities in oil
drilling, and a combination of cotton acreage
and rice transfer and fertilizer financing re-
sulted in litigation and some convictions.
Harris County became the site of the U.S.
Manned Spacecraft Research Center. A fed-
eral court ruled Texas congressional dis-
tricts unconstitutional. This and other court
decisions led later to complete redistricting
in Texas i 1965 and further court decisions
in 1966.
On Nov. -2, 1963, the death of President
John F. Kennedy and wounding of Gov. John
Connally by an assassin occurred as they
were on a motor trip through downtown Dal-
las. The alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Os-
wald, was killed on the following Sunday by
shots fired by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub
operator. These tragedies brought extensive
publicity, investigation and trials, and sanity
hearings for Ruby who remained in the Dal-
las County jail until his death from cancer
Jan. 3, 1967.
Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson of
Texas was sworn in as President in cere-
monies on the presidential plane at Dallas
Lob'e Field immediately after President Ken-
nedy's death.
In 1963, the University of Houston be-
came the state's second largest fully state-
supported institution of higher education.
That year, the Legislature also authorized
Edinburg and San Angelo junior colleges to
become state-supported in 1965.
The 1964 elections were dominated by
Democrats who defeated Texas' two incum-
bent Republican congressmen, from Dallas
and Odessa. Latin Americans and Negroes
increased their participation in elections, with
a few local victories. Integration of Negroes
was a major issue in legal battles and other
fields, with varying progress. Greatest re-
moval of barriers to Negroes in schools and
public accommodations was where their
numbers were relatively smaller.
At El Paso, an international boundary dis-
pute of many years over an area known as
the Chamizal along the Rio Grande was fi-
nally settled with most of the land trans-
ferred from the U.S. to Mexico.
The Texas Legislature in 1965 enacted
most of the governor's proposals. Increased
financing of public schools and the state's
colleges and universities was a major action,
and the state system of higher education was
reorganized. A 3-cent increase in the cig-
arette tax was the principal source of more
money for schoolteachers.
Redistricting for Congress and the Texas
House and Senate were immediately contested
in federal courts, which early in 1966 ruled
that these districts must be modified by mid-
1967. The Legislature passed 27 constitutional
amendments for submission to voters in 1965
and 1966. On Sept. 7 voters rejected the one
amendment then submitted, to enlarge the
Texas Senate. In the Nov. 2 general election,
they rejected 5 of 10 amendments submitted.
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Texas Almanac, 1968-1969, book, 1967; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113809/m1/74/?q=%221964~%22: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Texas State Historical Association.