Frances Farenthold: Texas’ Joan of Arc
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FRANCES FARENTHOLD: TEXAS’ JOAN OF ARC Stephanie Fields-Hawkins Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2012 APPROVED: Elizabeth Hayes Turner, Major Professor Randolph B. Campbell, Committee Member Richard B. McCaslin, Committee Member and Chair of the Department of History Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Fields-Hawkins, Stephanie. Frances Farenthold: Texas’ Joan of Arc. Master of Arts (History), December 2012, 141 pp., bibliography, 179 titles. Born in 1926, Frances “Sissy” Tarlton Farenthold began her exploration of politics at a young age. In 1942, Farenthold graduated from Hockaday School for Girls. In 1945, she graduated from Vassar College, and in 1949, she graduated from the University of Texas School of Law. Farenthold was a practicing lawyer, participated in the Corpus Christi Human Relations Commission from 1964 to 1969, and directed Nueces County Legal Aid from 1965 to 1967. In 1969, she began her first term in the Texas House of Representatives. During her second term in the House (1971-1972), Farenthold became a leader in the fight against government corruption. In 1972, she ran in the Democratic primary for Texas governor, and forced a close run-off vote with Dolph Briscoe. Soon afterwards in 1972, she was nominated as a Democratic vice- presidential candidate at the Democratic convention, in addition to her nomination as the chairperson of the National Women’s Political Caucus. Farenthold ran in the Democratic primary for governor again in 1974, but lost decisively. From 1976 until 1980, she was the first woman president of Wells College, before coming back to Texas and opening a law practice. For the next three decades, Farenthold practiced law, taught at the University of Houston, and furthered her activism for the environment, as well as women’s, minority’s, gay and lesbian, and immigrant’s rights. She currently lives in Houston and continues working towards these goals. Copyright 2012 By Stephanie Fields-Hawkins ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 THE START OF A LEGEND: 1926 THROUGH 1968 ............................. 22 CHAPTER 3 FIGHTING THE GOOD OL’ BOYS: 1968 THROUGH 1972 .................... 42 CHAPTER 4 CHANGING TEXAS’ GUBERNATORIAL RACE: 1972 ........................... 72 CHAPTER 5 OUT OF ELECTED OFFICE BUT NOT OUT OF THE FIGHT: 1972 THROUGH 2012 ........................................................................................................... 99 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 118 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 130 iii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Though women were hardly powerhouses in elective American politics before the 1960s and 1970s, they had always managed to create a niche for themselves to influence political decisions. High profile women such as Montana Senator Jeanette Rankin, who was the only congressperson to vote against both World Wars, kept women visible among the public. Women, however, were generally thought to exist in the background and along the sidelines of the political arena. They were expected to influence public policy by the power of their purity and good deeds, usually referring to women’s supposed greater connection to religion.1 This ideal slowly began changing in the twentieth century. While there was no amendment to the United States Constitution allowing women to vote before 1920, countless women had a keen interest in politics and reform and managed to force many of their plans to fruition regardless of the public sentiment against political women. This culminated in the first wave of feminism, which lasted approximately from 1890 through 1925, and was focused mainly on obtaining woman suffrage, married women’s property rights, protective legislation for working women, and prohibition. Another strong wave of feminism broached public consciousness in the mid-1960s. Finally, female politicians began to appear with greater prominence. This coincided with various other social movements forcing their way into the public eye, such as the multiple civil rights 1Nancy F. Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood: Woman’s Sphere in New England, 1790-1835 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975); Paula Baker, “The Domestication of Politics: Women and American Political Society, 1780-1920,” American Historical Review 89 (June 1984), 620-647; Suzanne Lebsack, Free Women of Petersburg: Status and Culture in a Southern Town, 1784-1860 (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985); Sally McMillen, Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women’s Rights Movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). 1 movements and identity politics working for black, Chicano, Asian-American, and Native American rights. The late 1960s especially saw changes emerging throughout the political arena. Specifically, in 1968, Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to the United States House of Representatives, Charlene Mitchell ran for president of the United States in 1968 on the first Communist party ticket since 1940, and in 1969 Frances “Sissy” Farenthold was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from Nueces County, Texas.2 Frances Farenthold was considered a liberal Democrat in a conservative state. She participated in Texas government from the late 1960s through the 1970s. After establishing herself as a practicing lawyer, she served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1969 through 1972, and ran for governor in 1972 and again in 1974. Gloria Steinem, Fanny Lou Hamer, David Lopez, and Allard Lowenstein nominated her as a Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 1972; she chaired the National Women’s Political Caucus Conference that same year; became the first woman president of Wells College in 1976; and remained involved in environmental, minority, and gay rights, as well as various other activist movements over the years. She was active in organizations with feminists Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Bella 2 Kathleen Elizabeth Lazarou, Concealed Under Petticoats: Married Women’s Property and the Law of Texas, 1840-1913 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1986); Judith Gammage, “Quest for Equality: An Historical Overview of Women’s Rights Activism in Texas, 1890-1975” (PhD diss., University of North Texas, 1982); Megan Seaholm, “Earnest Women: The White Women’s Club Movement in Progressive Era Texas” (PhD diss., Rice University, 1988); Ruth Winegarten and Judith N. McArthur, eds., Citizens At Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas (Austin: Ellen C. Temple, 1987); Marjorie Spruill Wheeler, New Women of the New South: The Leaders of the Woman Suffrage Movement in the Southern States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); Ruth Bordin, Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty 1873-1990 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1990); Judith N. McArthur, Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women’s Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893-1918 (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1998); Shirley Chisholm, Unbought and Unbossed: Expanded 40th Anniversary Edition (Washington, D.C.: Take Root Media, 2010); William Minter, Gail Hovey, and Charles Cobb, Jr., eds., No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists Over a Half Century, 1950-2000 (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2007). 2 Azbug, and Shirley Chisholm. She was a good friend to Hector P. Garcia, founder of the American G.I. Forum. She fought corruption in Texas government with Representatives Fred Agnich, Dave Allred, Tom Bass, William J. Blythe, and Lane Denton, as well as twenty-four other Texas politicians who were part of the bipartisan coalition known as the “Dirty Thirty.” Yet, in spite of the intriguing story behind her many accomplishments, an extended biography has not yet been written covering her life.3 It would be impossible to discuss Farenthold’s life and career without understanding the elements that shaped her environment and era. As with all people, she is a product of her time, influenced by history and social changes. In addition to a discussion of her life before politics, a study of southern politics and Texas politics specifically as well as the role of women in both arenas since the battle for woman suffrage are important precursors to understanding the various influences at work on her. Also, a look at women in political offices, and the effects of politics on women and the women’s movement serve as a foundation for this biography. Women in Texas politics is a much smaller field and consists mostly of biographies of important women, but these books offer delectable details regarding women’s changing roles and expectations, as well as how they were perceived across the massive state. Histories such as these inform and contribute to an understanding of Farenthold’s unique position 4 in Texas and in the national political arena. 3 Sydney Ladensohn Stern, Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1997); Ann Fears Crawford and Crystal Sasse Ragsdale, Women In Texas: Their Lives, Their Experiences, Their Accomplishments (Burnet, TX: Eakin Press, 1982), 285-295; Jean Flynn, Texas Women Who Dared To Be First (Burnet, TX: Eakin Press, 1999), 57-66; Nancy Baker Jones and Ruthe Winegarten, Capitol Women: Texas Female Legislators, 1923-1999 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000), 152-158; Patricia Lasher, Texas