Dolph Briscoe

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Dolph Briscoe, Jr.
41st Governor of Texas
In office January 16, 1973 – January 16, 1979
Lieutenant	William P. Hobby, Jr.
Preceded by	Preston Smith (D)
Succeeded by	William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr., (R)
Born	April 23, 1923 (1923-04-23) (age 85) Uvalde, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Janey Briscoe
Profession	Politician

Dolph Briscoe, Jr. (born April 23, 1923) is a wealthy Uvalde rancher and businessman who was the Democratic Governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979. He was the last governor to serve a two-year term and the first to serve a four-year term, when the state doubled the length of gubernatorial terms, effective in 1975.

[edit] Early years

Briscoe graduated from the University of Texas in 1942, where he was a member of the Nu chapter of the Chi Phi Fraternity and the Alpha Rho chapter of Alpha Phi Omega. While at UT, Briscoe was selected a New Man in the Texas Cowboys in the spring of 1940. He then joined the Army, serving in southeast Asia during World War II.

Briscoe was elected to the state legislature in 1949 and served until 1957. He then returned to Uvalde to manage his family's ranch and other businesses. In 1968, Briscoe competed unsuccessfully in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. There was a runoff between the more liberal contender, Don Yarborough of Houston (no relation to U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough), and Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith of Lubbock. Smith won the runoff and then defeated Republican Paul W. Eggers of Dallas in the general election.

[edit] Political career

In 1972, Briscoe returned to politics, seeking and receiving the Democratic nomination for governor of Texas over incumbent Preston Smith, whose latter tenure was marred by the Sharpstown scandal, a bank fraud case exposed by the "Dirty 30" lawmakers including Joseph Hugh Allen and Robert Gammage. After he defeated liberal activist Frances "Sissy" Farenthold of Corpus Christi for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in a heated runoff primary, Briscoe narrowly defeated the Republican candidate, State Senator Henry Grover of Houston, in the November 1972 general election. The final tally was 1,633,493 (47.9 percent) for Briscoe and 1,533,986 (45 percent) for Grover. The Hispanic candidate, 29-year-old Ramsey Muñiz, received 214,118 votes (6 percent), nearly all believed to have been at Briscoe's expense.

As governor, he focused on the maintenance and efficiency of existing government agencies as opposed to the creation of new ones. As a veteran rancher, Briscoe also worked to help the farmers and ranchers of the state during his tenure. This included the eradication of the screw worm on both sides of the Rio Grande River.

In the 1974 general election — the first for a four-year term in Texas since 1873 — Briscoe defeated the Republican nominee, former Lubbock Mayor Jim Granberry, by a wide margin, 1,016,334 to 514,725 in a heavily Democratic year. Granberry earlier had defeated Odell McBrayer, a "New Right" candidate, in the Republican primary. In the Briscoe-Granberry race, there were also 93,295 votes for the Hispanic La Raza candidate and another some 30,000 ballots for assorted minor candidates.

In 1974 and 1975, Briscoe undercut two attempts to write a new constitution for the state of Texas. He said that the proposals before the legislature, acting as a constitutional convention in 1974, and later, in 1975, before the voters, would cause expansion of government and weaken the executive branch, already considered too weak by most political scientists.

Briscoe was defeated in the Democratic primary in 1978 by former Chief Justice John L. Hill, who was in turn very narrowly defeated in the general election for Texas governorship by Republican Bill Clements.

Briscoe has won many political and civic awards over the years, including the designation of "Mr. South Texas" in Laredo. He is the largest individual landowner in Texas.^{[citation needed]} Briscoe has recently donated a large sum of money to the Witte Museum in San Antonio.

[edit] Election history

[edit] 1972

[edit] References

1. ^^{[citation needed]}
2. ^ Two other candidates shared 27,994 votes

Preceded by Britton T. Edwards	Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 77 (Uvalde) 1949–1953	Succeeded by A. J. Bishop, Jr.
Preceded by Ligon L. Holstein	Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 79 (Uvalde) 1953–1957	Succeeded by Jack Richardson
Preceded by Preston Smith	Governor of Texas 1973–1979	Succeeded by Bill Clements

v • d • e Governors of Texas J. P. Henderson • Wood • Bell • J. W. Henderson • Pease • Runnels • Houston • Clark • Lubbock • Murrah • Hamilton • Throckmorton • Pease • Davis • Coke • Hubbard • Roberts • Ireland • Ross • Hogg • Culberson • Sayers • Lanham • Campbell • Colquitt • J. Ferguson • Hobby • Neff • M. Ferguson • Moody • Sterling • M. Ferguson • Allred • O'Daniel • Stevenson • Jester • Shivers • Daniel • Connally • Smith • Briscoe • Clements • White • Clements • Richards • Bush • Perry