Who was Texas' last segregationist elected governor ?

[TX Conservative Dem]

Considering that desegregation took place in the late 1960s and early 70s in Texas and other Southern states, who was the last segregationist elected to the Texas Governor's Mansion ?

A. Preston Smith
B. John Connally
C. Dolph Briscoe
D. Price Daniel

[Indy Texas]

Very few statewide Texas politicians had views on segregation approaching those of the Deep South. I can't think of any who considered it a "dealbreaker" or made it a significant campaign issue.

Segregation in Texas was largely a matter of local custom. In East Texas, it was rigidly enforced. In the western part of the state, there simply were no black people. In South Texas, Anglos tended to look down on Hispanic Texans and did not socialize with them, but they generally were discriminated against in a de facto way comparable to discrimination against blacks and Jews in the North, not in the de jure sense of segregation and Jim Crow.

Price Daniel signed the Southern Manifesto in 1956 when he was a US Senator, so my guess is that he would have been the last one. Connally was a LBJ ally and fairly progressive on race issues. And after the Civil Rights Act was signed, no serious statewide candidate or officeholder in Texas made an issue about integration.

The main proponents of segregation were local politicians and school board members.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Without cheating by looking it up, my guess is John Connally.

[smoltchanov]

Without cheating by looking it up, my guess is John Connally.

He was a conservative (and even that - not especially by Texas's standards of that time) Democrat, but, surely, not segregationist.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's amazing that a Jim Crow state elected Ralph Yarborough Senator.

[smoltchanov]

It's amazing that a Jim Crow state elected Ralph Yarborough Senator.

The Yarborough family were stubborn and hardy Texas libarals. Accustomed to losing,, but always trying to win))). Sometimes that happened. Texas was (IMHO) more populist then then now

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's amazing that a Jim Crow state elected Ralph Yarborough Senator.

The Yarborough family were stubborn and hardy Texas libarals. Accustomed to losing,, but always trying to win))). Sometimes that happened. Texas was (IMHO) more populist then then now

So they were seen as a lost cause until they actually started winning? Sounds like Bernie Sanders. This is one of my favorite articles on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Bernie_Sanders

[smoltchanov]

It's amazing that a Jim Crow state elected Ralph Yarborough Senator.

The Yarborough family were stubborn and hardy Texas libarals. Accustomed to losing,, but always trying to win))). Sometimes that happened. Texas was (IMHO) more populist then then now

So they were seen as a lost cause until they actually started winning? Sounds like Bernie Sanders. This is one of my favorite articles on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_history_of_Bernie_Sanders

Not exactly. Sanders began with 4-6% as third-party candidate. Texas liberals always had bigger base (my guess would be 25-30% in primary, while general election being of no importance almost until 60thies), but almost never - favorites.

[Vega]

John Connally?

[smoltchanov]

John Connally?

Surely no (and explained why above). Almost surely - Price Daniel.