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January 17, 1939 -
August 4, 1941
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Born: March 11, 1890 in Malta, Ohio
Early Career: Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel's father was
killed in an accident shortly after O'Daniel's birth. His mother
remarried and the family moved to Kansas, where O'Daniel went to
school and then took a job with a flour-millling company. He became
a top salesman, moving around the country to work for various milling
companies. In 1925, he moved to Fort Worth to become sales manager
for Burrus Mills. He took over the company's radio advertising in
1928, and began writing songs, speaking on religious and inspirational
topics, and performing with a Western swing band he called the Light
Crust Doughboys. He organized his own flour company in 1935. Radio
fans urged O'Daniel to run for governor, and he won a smashing victory.
Accomplishments: O'Daniel failed to deliver on the populist platform
on which he had campaigned. The legislature scoffed at the vaudevillian
atmosphere that surrounded the governor, but his popularity remained
high and many of his opponents were defeated. In his second term,
O'Daniel began to attack supposed communists in organized labor
and academia, and packed the University of Texas Board of Regents
with appointees who ushered in an era of limited academic freedom
on campus.
Later years: O'Daniel ran for the Senate in a special election
in 1941, defeating Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson in one of the most
famous and controversial elections in Texas history. He was shunned
in the Senate by his more serious colleagues, and his popularity
dwindled. He did not seek reelection in 1948. He worked in business
and attempted comebacks at the governorship in 1956 and 1958, basing
his campaigns on crude appeals to racism and anti-communism. Time
had passed Pappy by, and he continued in private life until his
death on May 12, 1969.
Handbook
of Texas article
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