Texas Governor
August 4, 1941 -
January 21, 1947
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Born: March 20, 1888, in a log cabin in Mason
County, Texas
Early Career: Stevenson attended a country school (seven
years of three-month school terms), then went into business as a teenager
hauling freight between Junction and Brady. Starting as a janitor at a
Junction bank, he became a bookkeeper and cashier and studied law at night.
As a young man he was involved with many small businesses in Kimble County,
then served as county attorney and county judge. He entered the Texas House
of Representatives in 1928 and was elected speaker of the House in 1933 and
lieutenant governor in 1938. He became governor when W. Lee O'Daniel
resigned to become a U.S. senator. He was overwhelmingly reelected, and his
term as governor was the longest of Texas governor up to that time.
Accomplishments: Stevenson concerned himself with soil conservation,
expansion of and permanent financing for a state highway system, expansion
of the University of Texas, and increases in teacher's salaries. He
emphasized conservative fiscal policies and converted the state's deficit
into a surplus by the time he left office.
Later years: Stevenson became the center of national attention during his
race for the U.S. Senate in 1948, in which he ran against Congressman Lyndon
Baines Johnson. The election was the closest senatorial race in the nation's
history. Stevenson appeared to be the winner when an amended return was
filed from Jim Wells County giving Johnson enough to win by 87 votes.
Stevenson contested the election all the way to the United States Supreme
Court. He took his defeat bitterly and retired from public life. He died on
June 28, 1975.
Handbook of Texas article
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Japanese bomb Pearl
Harbor; U.S. enters World War II
Apr 24 1942
Texas assigned war bond quota of $18.6 million; 750,000 Texans will serve in
the armed forces during the war
May 16 1942
Oveta Culp Hobby becomes director of the WACs
Anglo-American
landings in North Africa
Ration books
introduced
Polio epidemic
Salvage drives
Jun 1943
Beaumont race riot
Sep 9 1943
36th Infantry Division leads landing at Salerno; fights in Italy and
Germany, awarded 15 Congressional Medals of Honor
Apr 3 1944
Supreme Court rules Texas "white primary" illegal
D-Day landings
30 percent inflation
Popular radio shows
include
The Red Skelton Show
,
The Green Hornet
,
Superman
,
Inner Sanctum
,
The Fred
Allen Show
,
One Man's Family
, and
Queen for a Day
Victory in Europe
Atomic bombs dropped
on Japan; Japan surrenders and World War II ends; 57 million killed in the
war; 291,000 Americans
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