But Ferguson ran for governor in the 1918 Democratic primary. Johnson Roofing built a business on topping off buildings, but when it comes to its legacy, Bill Johnson and daughter Sherri focus on the foundation. He decided that the university president must resign, and when Vinson refused, Ferguson vetoed the universitys entire budget. The founders did not invent impeachment. Basically, he wanted five professors fired, for the unstated reason that they had spoken out publicly against his candidacy for governor. Jim Ferguson so enormously popular 100 years ago. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. But the mere fact that Ferguson had been impeached and made ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit under the state did not in any sense remove him from the field of Texas politics. Prohibition was a major issue in the campaign of 1914, with several aspirants for the governorship on both sides of the question. This might sound like the controversy involving UT System Regent Wallace Hall, an appointee of Gov. James "Pa" Ferguson was the Governor of Texas from 1915 to 1917, when he was impeached and convicted on several charges. he was accused of misuse of public funds following his call for a special legislative session When a governor is removed from office, resigns, or dies or becomes incapacitated while in office, who becomes governor? He blamed his directors for running a shoddy operation. House Speaker Franklin Fuller called a special session to consider charges of impeachment against the governor. Unable to run under his own name, Ferguson ran his wife's campaign for Governor; Miriam A. Ferguson, known as "Ma" Ferguson, was twice elected as governor, serving two non-consecutive terms, from 1925 to 1927 and 1933 to 1935. Ma placed a distant fifth. She was reelected in 1932 and served January 17, 1933 January 15, 1935. The tenant law was passed but remained on the statute books only a short time before being declared unconstitutional. There is no regularly scheduled session until 2015. Found in volume 15,291 (available at govinfo). Though he was kicked out of office and disgraced in front of his colleagues, Ferguson was still very popular among his hard-core supporters and rallied back. The House sent 21 articles of impeachment to the Senate. He convened the commission, and the body approved that Barker write a letter to the Governor-elect. The fight with the university touched off a massive scandal. Gov. Impeachment is the equivalent of an indictment. The charges were then sent to the state Senate for trial. 100% remote. In order for an official to be impeached, articles of impeachment must be brought by the Texas House of Representatives. He was impeached in 1917 and removed from office. How to run for office | January 1996 in Austin, Texas), first black southern woman in the United States Congress. The veto was retaliation against the university because of its refusal to dismiss certain faculty members whom Ferguson found objectionable, including William Harding Mayes, former Texas Lieutenant Governor and founder and dean of the University of Texas School of Journalism. Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in on January 5, 1925; Miriam Ferguson followed on January 20. His father died when he was four. The framers considered impeachment an important check on the power of the presidency and against corruption. He was a popular figure, singing laws protecting sharecroppers and providing state funding for rural schools. In 1916 Ferguson's reelection seemed certain. Though as of this writing, three presidents have been impeached, none have ever been removed from office. Samuel Houston (1793-1863), American statesman and soldier, was the person most responsible for bringing Texas into the Union. You can cancel at any time. Encyclopedia.com. Five concerned the misapplication of public funds, three related to his quarrel with the university, one declared that he had failed properly to respect and enforce the banking laws of the state, and one charged that he had received $156,500 ($2.9 million in todays dollars) from a source he refused to reveal. Leah LaGrone Ochoa then explores Fergusons hot-and-cold relationship with the Texas press, and Mark Stanley examines the impact of the impeachment on Texas politics in the decades that followed. Yet the House rejected a broad attempt to impeach Johnson for abuse of power in 1867, because many congressmen felt a president had to commit a crime to be impeached. He was replaced by William P. Hobby after the Texas House of Representatives found him guilty in ten of twenty-one charges. Donations by CCWH members and other patrons support CCWH awards and initiatives. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Ouida Ferguson Nalle, The Fergusons of Texas, or "Two Governors for the Price of One": A Biography of James Edward Ferguson and His Wife (San Antonio: Naylor, 1946). Provision was made for the establishment of the Austin State School. "In light of the fundamental role attorneys play, it would lead to an absurd result were it criminal for an official to provide student records to his or her attorney in the face of litigation, or anticipated litigation, involving these records," Philip Hilder wrote in the report. StrongJanuary 29, 202010:48 amArts & Culture, Stories From Texas, Bain News Service /Wikimedia Commons [Public domain]. [5], He also became active in the Democratic Party and managed several local political campaigns. Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Fergusonreveals how power ebbed and flowed in twentieth-century Texas and includes several annotated primary documents critical to understanding the Ferguson impeachment. Only two Texas public officials have been impeached in the state's history. It was, in his mind, absolute. Hilder submitted the report to the legislative committee. A grand jury in Travis County learned that in 1915, Ferguson had transferred $5,600 from the state to a bank in Austin and then to his bank in Temple that he used to pay off a private debt. As a result of these and other expenditures, the ad valorem tax rate for state purposes advanced from 12 1/2 to 30 cents. [1] Impeachments in Texas begin in the Texas House of Representatives which must cast a majority vote in favor of impeachment. [15][16] No unelected official in Texas has ever been successfully impeached or removed from office. The Senate, acting as a court of impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and convicted the governor of 10 of them. The colleges were permitted to begin building programs, and the educational appropriation bills were more generous than usual. The State Senate reduced the charges to ten, half of which dealt with the transfer of the $5,600. Ferguson was born to the Reverend James E. Ferguson, and Fannie Ferguson near Salado in south Bell County, Texas. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. The fact is that he had parked state funds in his bank for personal gain and he had run his bank as a one-man Ponzi scheme. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment in federal cases. Laws governing impeachment in Texas are governed by Article 15 of the Texas Constitution. The policy of state aid to rural schools was begun, and a rather timid law requiring compulsory school attendance was passed. He told the UT president, Dr. Robert E. Vinson, that he wanted them fired. The Legislature is aghast at the meddling with the flagship state university. Democrat James "Pa" Ferguson Jr. became governor of Texas in 1913, and his impeachment stemmed from his feud with the University of Texas. In 1940 Mrs. Ferguson again sought the governorship, and for the last time "Farmer Jim" appealed to the voters of Texas. She would serve one more term as governor from 1933 to 1935. Henry S. Johnston of Oklahoma The framers considered impeachment an important check on the power of the presidency and against corruption. It appears that there were no criminal proceedings in this case. . He was a popular figure, signing laws protecting sharecroppers and providing state funding for rural schools. There were two major elements of the impeachment charges brought against Ferguson in 1917. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. In 1924, unable to run under his own name, he Mr. Ferguson, known as "Pa", ran his wife's campaign for the governorship against Judge Felix Robertson, the candidate endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan. During Ferguson's first term, the legislature passed several measures of major importance. In retaliation, Ferguson vetoed the entire appropriation for the university. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. On July 21, 1917, in the midst of the excitement, Ferguson appeared before the Travis County grand jury, and several days later it was announced that he had been indicted on nine charges. Other high-profile librarians voiced their support of Winkler, as did the son of an ex-governor, and a chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The campaign proved him to be a man of considerable native ability and the possessor of a captivating personality. Hearing the gasps in the chamber, Ferguson immediately asked to strike the comment. In 1917, Gov. TEXAS HISTORY MINUTE: The impeachment of Pa Ferguson, Texas lawmakers push for statewide paid parental leave, Graford secures regional quarterfinal in domina, Parker County man arrested on charges of impersonating an officer, 'New' doors opening: Poston Dry Goods now Mineral Wells hub, Mineral Wells native celebrates 103rd birthday, UPDATED playoff basketball scores: 2/20-2/21/23, Brock moves on with emphatic win over Holliday, Graford secures regional quarterfinal in dominant fashion, Millsap's Coach Johnson relishes his 'calling'. His mother continued to live on the farm, and he began working in the fields as a young boy. He was reelected in 1916 but the following year was impeached on grounds of misusing public funds and removed from office. youngest governor in Texas history. An argument over spending tax dollars, an attempt to silence political opponents, and charges of a kangaroo court.. James Ferguson is the only governor to be impeached and convicted. "Ferguson Impeachment Its president is in the crosshairs. Bruce A. Glasrud is professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay, and retired dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Sul Ross State University. Ferguson then went on a tour of Texas, voicing his disdain for the university and what he called the university crowd in public speeches. Jim Pa Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. Dan Moody. Throughout his years in banking he took an active interest in county and local politics. The chair of the State Library and Historical Commission, Eugene C. Barker, heard talk about these plans and intervened in support of Winkler. FERGUSON IMPEACHMENT FERGUSON IMPEACHMENT. Bruce Rutherford, The Impeachment of Jim Ferguson (Austin: Eakin Press, 1983). Only 17 federal officers have been impeached since 1776. Of course, her husband was the only one the amnesty applied to. This is why I so often say, Im W. F. Strong, these are Stories from Texas some of them are astonishingly true., 2021 Texas Standard. Similarly, the Texas constitution gives the lower house of the legislature power to impeach judges, the governor, and statewide elected officials. In 1917, Gov. The entire process is substantially the same in Texas for elected officials, as it is for most of the other states. The Texas Senate reduced the charges to 10, half of which dealt with the transfer of the $5,600. Dictionary of American History. At the same time, officials had begun looking into Fergusons finances. ex-governor banned from holding state office. Five of the articles sustained by the Senate charged Ferguson with the misapplication of public funds, three related to his quarrel with the University, one declared that he had failed properly to respect and enforce the banking laws of the state, and one charged that he had received $156,500 in currency from a source that he refused to reveal. He believed that "a Negro has no business whatever taking a part in the political affairs of the Democratic party, the white man's party." The impeachment process begins with the House of Representatives. [10][11] However, a letter from University chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in February 2014 said that Hall likely requested fewer than 100,000 pages. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Their campaign slogan: Two governors for the price of one.. Heres where Ferguson made his first greatest legal blunder. As a result of these developments, the speaker of the House called a special session to consider charges of impeachment against the governor. Has Austin Eliminated All Restrictions On People Experiencing Homelessness? Norman Kittrell, Governors Who Have Been and Other Public Men of Texas (Houston: Dealy-Adey-Elgin, 1921). On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. In sum, his down-home authenticity faded away to reveal a man who was mostly a fraud. He left home at sixteen and wandered for two years through the states of the Far West, where he lived by accepting any employment offered. U.S. Congress | The United States Constitution provides that the President of the United States shall only be removed from office upon "Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. Ferguson was indicted on charges including embezzlement while Carillo spent three years in jail following his impeachment. He was associated with the Farmers State Bank of Belton for several years and was a member of the Texas Bankers Association. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by his successor and incumbent, William P. Hobby of Houston, previously the lieutenant governor. You are currently viewing a legacy feature of the Texas Politics Project website. The Regents refused. Dictionaries thesauruses pictures and press releases. This independence made him critical of existing policies, earning him sufficient popular support to win office, but also the consequent wrath of the establishment that could have protected him from investigation. Ability and the educational appropriation bills were more generous than usual Ferguson vetoed the entire appropriation the! 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