Chapter Twelve Overview
Texas in Transition, 1960–1986
The 1960s ushered in a quarter-century of change in Texas, an era during which the
state’s politics seemed to move beyond their parochial past, the economy reached new
heights, and women and minorities made successful bids for rights long denied them.
These changes seemed largely positive, and some of them can be traced, directly or
indirectly, to the role of Lyndon B. Johnson, who ascended to the U.S. presidency after
the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas. Yet many of these
changes were also paradoxical. Although Johnson’s enormous influence served as a
moderating influence on the Texas Democratic Party and in many ways enabled the
growth of its liberal wing, it also elicited a conservative backlash that fueled the growth
of the Republican Party in Texas, a trend that culminated in the election of Republican
Bill Clements to the governorship in 1978.
The Decade of Johnson and Connally
The 1960s was dominated by Lyndon Johnson on the national level and John Connally on
the state level. Although Johnson failed to secure the Democratic nomination for
president in the Election of 1960, John F. Kennedy offered him the vice-presidential
nomination. To the surprise of many, Johnson accepted. Meanwhile, Republicans
nominated seasoned politician and two-term vice president Richard M. Nixon for
president. In Texas, Allan Shivers organized Democrats for Nixon while radical
conservatives decried Kennedy’s Catholicism and the civil rights planks of the
Democratic platform. In extremely close races, Johnson won the senatorial race and the
vice-presidency as a result of cross-filing. Allegations of election tainting of votes from
South Texas remained unproven. However, there was never any doubt that the selection
of Johnson as a running mate had ensured Kennedy’s victory in the South.
Even so, the Republican Party looked upon the results of the 1960 election with
optimism. Never had a Republican candidate received more votes in Texas. John Tower
became a strong contender in the 1961 special election to replace Johnson in the Senate
against some very well-known liberal Democrats and a Democrat conservative.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s political protégé John Connally won the governorship in
early 1963. John F. Kennedy traveled to Texas in November of that same year to try to
patch up a long-brewing quarrel between Lyndon Johnson and Ralph Yarborough. An
assassin’s bullet changed the direction of Texas politics. Johnson became president, but
his administration was soon mired in an unpopular war that destroyed his vision of a
Great Society. In Texas, Connally succeeded in fostering economic growth, increasing
university building programs and faculty salaries, increasing tourism, and attracting outof-state industry. A major criticism voiced by liberals was that Connally’s method of
taxation was regressive and that economic expansion excluded minorities and the poor.
They were also annoyed at his control of the state party machinery.
In the midst of the Vietnam War, Johnson’s surprise announcement that he would
not seek a second full term as president offered opportunities for conservative Democrats
who won hard-fought primaries by appealing to middle-and high-income voters to edge
out candidates who had won the support of African Americans, lower-income whites, and
Mexican Americans. The 1970 election witnessed the high point of conservative
Democratic success in Texas.
Challenges to the White Male Elite for Control of Texas
Federal intervention hastened the political modernization of the state. Baker v. Carr
(1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (1964) mandated that legislative reapportionment target the
principle of “one man, one vote,” thus strengthening both minority voices and the
Republican Party in Texas. Another challenge to the white male elite came with the
ratification of the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished
the poll tax in federal elections. The Twenty-sixth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act
of 1965 also eliminated strategies that had diluted the potential voting strength of racial
and ethnic minorities.
World War II had a great impact on Mexican Americans and African Americans
who had fought for democracy abroad only to have it denied to them back at home. Black
organizations like the Progressive Voters League and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) instituted lawsuits against suffrage
restrictions and gerrymandering. Barbara Jordan became the first African American
woman to serve in the state senate, the first woman to give a keynote address at a national
party convention, and the first black congresswoman from Texas and the South. Her
eloquence and her integrity continue to inspire Americans of all races.
De jure segregation also came to an end—not through lengthy court cases but
through sit-ins, boycotts, protests, and demonstrations. Texas experienced few violent
confrontations, but the white backlash ensured that Texas would not entirely desegregate.
Rampant unemployment and unequal access to educational and professional
opportunities persisted into the next decades.
Organizations like LULAC and the G.I. Forum mobilized the Mexican American
community during Henry B. González’s campaign for governor in 1958. These became
“Viva Kennedy” clubs in 1960. When Kennedy failed to appoint Hispanics to federal
posts, the Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations (PASO) was formed.
PASO and the Teamsters played a role in electing an entire slate of Mexican American
candidates to the city council of Crystal City. When a new coalition was elected two
years later, the old order ceased to exist.
A broader and more intense political movement was taking shape. The
fragmented Chicano movement could not resolve their ideological differences. The more
radical element remained in the Raza Unida Party (RUP); the moderate factions preferred
more legalistic methods and worked within the system. The Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), an outgrowth of the movement, instituted legal
challenges.
Women also became more politically involved throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Still confronting many of the same problems that had plagued them throughout the
1950s—gender-defined jobs, unequal wages, lack of social and economic opportunities—
women benefited from new birth-control techniques and a feminist awareness that
encouraged delaying marriage to pursue career and educational goals. The federal
government’s intervention was beneficial especially in addressing the discrimination of
women in the workplace.
In 1972, Sarah Weddington, a lawyer from Texas, won the landmark Roe v. Wade
case in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws forbidding abortions during
the first trimester. Even though Frances (Sissy) Farenthold unsuccessfully sought the
gubernatorial seat ten years earlier, 698 women won public offices in 1982, including
Ann Richards as state treasurer and then governor in 1990.
Sharpstown and the End of an Era
Although women and minorities made major inroads, Preston Smith’s ambivalence made
him a weak governor. Governor Smith’s small successes included a minimum-wage law,
increased spending for vocational education, and the development of medical schools in
Houston and Lubbock; but after his reelection in 1970, key administration figures were
implicated in financial malfeasance.
A major scandal erupted involving Frank Sharp, Houston banker and insurance
company executive. Sharp’s scheme involved granting loans to state officials with the
understanding that they would purchase stock to be resold later at a huge profit. In 1971
the Securities and Exchange Commission filed criminal and civil charges against key
participants in the scheme, including Speaker Gus Mutscher and two top aides, who were
convicted and sentenced to five years’ probation. Sharp was convicted of violating
federal banking and securities laws.
Candidates even remotely connected to the scandal were defeated in 1972 state
contests by more moderate Democrats, Republicans, or other reform candidates. Overall,
seventy-two new members to the house and fifteen to the senate were elected. Mutscher,
running for reelection, lost as did Governor Smith. Lawmakers in 1973 passed a series of
reforms that required state officials and politicians to disclose their personal and
campaign finances and required lobbyists to register with the state government. Dolph
Briscoe, a millionaire rancher, won the gubernatorial seat and Frances “Sissy” Farenthold
who had denounced the speaker’s exonerating report came in second. Ramsey Muniz, La
Raza Unida’s nominee for governor, garnered 214,118 votes.
Democratic politics of the 1970s and 1980s stressed party harmony, moderation,
and inclusion above all else. The tension of the 1960s lessened considerably and the party
held the governorship until 1979, when William P. Clements’ victory illustrated the state
Republican Party’s increasing strength.
Toward a Two-Party State?
Regardless of the party in power, Texas conservatives dominated the Texas governership.
In 1978 William P. Clements became the first Republican governor of Texas since
Reconstruction. However, by 1980, the economy weakened and the unemployment rate
rose to more than 6 percent. Democrat Mark White took the gubernatorial seat from
Clements, showing a progressive bent in securing health care for the indigent, workers’
compensation and unemployment benefits for farm workers, tougher pesticide regulations
as well as educational reforms. The next economic downturn translated into another
political upheaval with Clements’ reelection in 1986.
Leisure and the Arts
The post-World War II trends toward more leisure time for the middle and lower classes
and a wider variety of ways to spend it continued in the 1960s and beyond. Sports
remained more of a religion than a pastime for millions of Texans, and for many of them,
sports was synonymous with football. The rise of television and the state’s growing
prosperity made college football accessible to a broader audience than ever. Leading in
popularity was the storied Southwest Conference, whose greatest achievements came
during the reign of Darrell Royal, coach of the University of Texas from 1957 to 1976.
Professional football cast its spell on Texans in the 1960s. Texas millionaires Lamar Hunt
and K. S. “Bud” Adams helped found the American Football League in 1960 and secured
franchises for Dallas and Houston. That same year, oilman Clint Murchison, Jr., received
a National Football League expansion franchise for Dallas, the Cowboys. Other
professional sports in Texas included a strong minor-league baseball program throughout
the twentieth century. The state’s warm and sunny climate made the Texas League an
important place for the training of future major leaguers. Texas acquired a second majorleague franchise in 1972 when the Washington Senators moved to Arlington and became
the Texas Rangers, but neither the Rangers nor the Houston Astros would enjoy much
success for many years to come.
The quarter-century after 1960 marked a period of transition in entertainment,
culture, and the arts in Texas. By the 1970s, symphony, opera, and ballet companies
existed in all the state’s major cities, and some of these were beginning to establish
national or even international reputations.
In 1970, after ten frustrating years in Nashville, Willie Nelson moved to Austin,
where he grew his hair long, dressed in faded jeans, and began making music his own
way. The music scene that began to coalesce in Austin in the early 1970s attracted other
self-styled musical “outlaws,” among them Waylon Jennings, a singer-songwriter from
Littlefield. “Progressive country,” as the new Austin music was being called, remained a
well-kept secret nationally until 1975, when Nelson’s Red-Headed Stranger album, a
collection of sparsely arranged ballads, rocketed to the top of the country and pop charts.
A second album the following year, a collaboration with Waylon Jennings entitled
Wanted: The Outlaws, became the best-selling country album in history.
“Austin City Limits,” a television program founded in 1974, exposed the Texas
music scene to the nation. Country-and-western music is nationally represented by Willie
Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Murphey, and the swing band Asleep at the Wheel.
Nashville continued to make other Texans famous, too. Prominent performers include
George Jones, Ray Price, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rogers, and George Strait.
Fort Worth’s Ornette Coleman leaves his mark in creating “free jazz” in the late 1950s.
Clarinetist John Carter is perhaps even better known. His five-album recording, Roots
and Foklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music, traces African
American history through jazz.
Texas long had provided popular subject matter for television and film, a trend
that continued into the modern era. In the 1970s, the nighttime soap opera Dallas took the
nation by storm, as the devious Texas oil tycoon, J. R. Ewing (played by Weatherford
native Larry Hagman) became the villain that everyone loved to hate
Larry McMurtry, the state’s best-known writer, serves as an example of the state’s
transition from a rural to an urban society, and of a writer who grappled with the impact
of that transition on people’s lives. While McMurtry’s novels of the 1960s had been set in
rural and small-town Texas, in the 1970s his work began to focus on urban themes. Then,
in something of a literary surprise, McMurtry published Lonesome Dove (1985), a long,
Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel about two ex-Rangers on an epic cattle drive.
Chapter Twelve Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of studying this chapter, you will be able to:
 appreciate the significance of the Johnson-Connally era in state/national politics,
 comprehend the factors contributing to Texas becoming a two-party state in the 1970s.
 discuss innovations in Texas leisure activities—both athletic and artistic.
Chapter Twelve Key Words and Terms
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“Viva Kennedy” clubs
John Tower
Baker v. Carr
Reynolds v. Sims
Good Government League in San Antonio
Barbara Jordan
Political Association of Spanish-speaking Organizations (PASO)
Chicano movement
Ramsey Muñiz
Roe v. Wade
Frances (Sissy) Farenthold
Lamar Hunt
“Bud” Adams (AFL)
Clint Murchison, Jr.
Dallas Cowboys
Tom Landry
Willie Nelson
Chapter Twelve Links
 A Guide to the Jose Angel Gutierrez Papers, 1959-1991 — Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez,
co-founder of La Raza Unida political party, was a leading Chicano activist and
political leader in the 1960s and 1970s in Texas. “The papers consist of
correspondence, reports, minutes, publications, articles, photographic materials, audio
tapes, and ephemera. These materials document the breadth of José Angel Gutierrez’s
interests, research, and social activism early in his career. The bulk of the materials
document Gutierrez’s activities in Oregon during the 1980s.”
 PBS “Newshour” discussion with Bob Lehrer on Barbara Jordan with Charlayne
Hunter-Gault Molly Ivins and Eleanor Holmes Norton.
 Texas State Historical Association, “Jordan, Barbara Charline,” Handbook of Texas
Online
 Texas State Library and Archives Committee, Modern Texas, Part 1, 1949-1973 —
Brief biographical sketches of Allan Shivers, Price Daniel, John Connally with links
to primary sources such as constituent letters and notes. Other images include photo
of Connally and Johnson as well as Connally campaign literature.
 Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum — links to speeches and messages,
photographs, oral histories, daily diary, National Security Action memos, and
telephone conversations.