Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 Oveta Culp Hobby: A Study of Power and Control Robert T. Pando Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES OVETA CULP HOBBY: A STUDY OF POWER AND CONTROL By ROBERT T. PANDO A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of History In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2008 Robert T. Pando All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Robert T. Pando defended on March 31, 2008 _____________________________ Elna C. Green Professor Directing Dissertation _____________________________ Barney Warf Outside Committee Member _____________________________ Maxine D. Jones Committee Member _____________________________ Neil Jumonville Committee Member _____________________________ Jennifer Koslow Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii for Trilla and Katy iii Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads. He smelled a familiar smell. It was the Sphinx. Oedipus said, "I want to ask one question. Why didn't I recognize my mother?" "You gave the wrong answer," said the Sphinx. "But that was what made everything possible," said Oedipus. "No," she said. "When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered, Man. You didn't say anything about woman." "When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women too. Everyone knows that." She said, "That's what you think." Muriel Rukeyser “Myth” My father taught me that I could turn the world around just as well as any of my brothers. Oveta Culp Hobby iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although the Houston Post was my favorite newspaper for years, I never met its publisher. Fortunately for me, many who knew her were willing to share some of their memories with me in personal interviews. Bill Hobby, who knew her longest and best, gave me the benefit of his insight and permission to use family photographs. Diana Hobby, who knew her as only a daughter-in-law can, helped me gain a better idea of what she was like. Al Shire, a Post man for many years and the editor of the commemorative biography commissioned by Bill and Jessica Hobby and published a year after Oveta Culp Hobby’s death, went to great pains to furnish his thoughts, and materials from his personal files. Nora Shire, who knows the Spinks manuscript better than anyone else, gave me the benefit of her understanding. Delores Chambers of Hobby Communications, archivist of Hobby family records, was immensely helpful. Liz Carpenter, for at least four decades a colleague of her fellow Bell County native, provided stories from the past and analysis from the present. Together with Chandler Davidson, of Rice University, Liz personifies why there is yet hope for the Democratic Party in Texas. Isabel Brown Wilson helped me understand the relationship between Oveta Hobby and Hobby’s two best friends, Isabel’s parents. Isabel is one of a very small number of people who can describe the interior of the Lamar Hotel’s Suite 8-F. Jane Ely described the interior of the old Houston Post building, including the corridor where Oveta Hobby caught Jane saluting Hobby’s portrait. Patty Treadwell and Peggy Buchanan both described the years they spent with Hobby. Peggy was Hobby’s assistant for the final thirty-five years of her life and I was fortunate to be able to spend some time with her before her death last year. Because she was a newspaper publisher and public figure, Oveta Culp Hobby’s life generated copious documentation. At the library at Rice University, Lisa Moellering and Amanda York Focke patiently answered questions and provided materials. Phil Montgomery and Lee Pecht also contributed from their knowledge of Rice’s benefactor and former trustee. Rice University historian Melissa Kean provided valuable information about the institution and its relationship to the Hobby family. v At the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, Valoise Armstrong, Catherine Cain, and Chalsea Millner provided much help. A research grant from the Eisenhower Foundation helped fund my labors in Abilene. In Oveta Hobby’s home county, Kenneth Gober, of the Hobby Library on the campus of Central Texas College, and Marc Gilbert, editor of the Killeen Daily Herald, allowed me to see and to photocopy materials available nowhere else. Charlotte McCann, publisher of the Texas Observer, shared her Rolodex and Observer files. Nancy Sims Pando, political scientist and political consultant, helped me understand local and state politics, and helped me locate useful information sources. I found helpful materials and helpful archivists at the Center for American History on the main campus of the University of Texas; at the adjacent Lyndon Baines Johnson Library; at the University of Houston’s M. D. Anderson Library; and at the impressive Houston Metropolitan Research Center of the Houston public library system. At Florida State University, the user-friendly Strozier Library furnished a surprising amount of research materials, considering that my topic was regional in nature – but centered on another region. Strozier’s helpful reference librarians and up-to-date information technology greatly eased my research effort. My dissertation committee recognized better than I the breadth of the topic I chose. Their suggestions helped me set necessary boundaries, and I am in their debt: Maxine Jones, Neil Jumonville, Jennifer Koslow, and Barney Warf. Elna Green, my major professor, provided timely insights and helped me place a remarkable life in proper context. Dr. Green also guided me toward a better understanding of when to stop researching and start writing. The History Department of Florida State University helped defray research costs with the award of a travel grant, for which I remain grateful. The department, personified in Debbie Perry and Chris Pignatiello, helped me avoid obstacles that could have delayed completion of my coursework and dissertation. Katy Pando, like Oveta Hobby born with special talents, applied her journalism skills to drafts of my manuscript and helped straighten out snaggled prose and snaggled logic. Her gift of an expresso machine proved useful, as well. Two scholars deserve special thanks. Florence Gould, a longtime friend associated with Southwestern vi University in Georgetown, Texas, and Patricia Pando, my oldest friend, suggested the life of Oveta Culp Hobby as a dissertation topic. Flo and Trilla had considered collaborating on Hobby research, but generously stepped aside and allowed me to proceed. If they choose to resume their project, I hope my manuscript will be helpful. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ......................................................................................................... ix List of Figures..........................................................................................................x Abstract.................................................................................................................. xi INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 1. 1905-1928 ........................................................................................................15 2. 1928-1941 ........................................................................................................32 3. 1942-1945 ........................................................................................................65 4. 1946-1952 ......................................................................................................124 5. 1953-1995 ......................................................................................................159 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................194 APPENDIXES .....................................................................................................199 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................207 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...............................................................................221 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Year-end strength of Black Personnel in the Women’s Army Corps, 1943-1946 ....................................................................................97 Table 2. Year-end strength of Women’s Army Corps, 1942-1946.....................105 Table 3. Summary Timeline: 1941-1945.........................................................119 ix LIST OF FIGURES 1. Oveta Culp Hobby, 1909 ...........................................................................31 2. Parliamentarian Oveta Hobby with House Speaker Fred Minor, 1931 .....31 3. Texas State Legislature Leaders, circa 1929-1931 ....................................31 4. Oveta Culp Hobby, circa 1935...................................................................64 5. William Pettus Hobby................................................................................64 6. Time, January 12, 1944 ...........................................................................120 7. Oveta Culp Hobby sworn in as Director of WAAC ................................121 8. Basic Training in skirts ............................................................................121