LUBBOCK COTJKTT AHD TEXAS POLITICS, 1934-1956 by RONALD ALBERT AVERB), B.A. A THESIS iir GOVERNMENT Submitted to the Grraduate Faculty of Texas Technological College in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of MASTER OP ARTS Approved Accepted Dean of the Graduate School August, 1958 TO trm A. PHILLIPS Qentleaaan, Scholar, Adviser and Friend ACraOITLEDGEMENT Apprsolation is grateftilly aolcnowledged to Professor William B. Oden for his direotlon of this thesis and to the othsr members of my coimlttee. Professors J. William Davis and S. S« MoSayt for their helpful criticism and to the staff of i3iB Dspairtment of Crovemment for their assistance and enoouragement. INlHaDUCTIOM TBSBBLB politlos have always proved to be interesting and unpredictable. Thin study has covered a period in those politics froift 193^ to 1936 in Liibbook County. Lubbock County polities have also proved to be very interesting. Ihe gabematorial, senatorial^ and congressional races in this period were studied in the light of what happened in Lubbock County in the JiOy and August Primaries.^ Campaigns over the state were not analyzed except when necessary to tie in the looal phase of the mce with the over-all cam­ paign. As ncmination in either of the two summer primaries ia tantamount to election in TBX&B, very little emphasis was given to the general or Novesaber elections in the guberna­ torial^ senatorial^ and congressional races. The presidential campaii^iis and elections in the 193^- 1956 period were also studied in view of what transpired in Lubbock County. The looal interest which those campaigns genemted was also studied. Ih all the races stiidied, the ^ Texas Elections laws require that a candidate receive a najcxrity of votes cast in the Democratic Primary to be nominated for office. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast in the first primary, the two leading candidates campaign in a runoff primary and the winner re- oeives the nomination. Ihe first primary is held on the fourth Saturday in July, and the aecond or runoff primary is held on the fourth Saturday in August. IV vote in Lubbock County was compared with that of the re­ mainder of the state. Faoti(»)alism in Texas politics, state and looal, was studied to see if Lubbock voters consistently supported oamlidates of any faction. The eampaigns and oampai^i methods of the Texas factions were also studied. Ite cam- pai0is were observed individually because the warring factions tended to sake the races independent of each other. Factional tickets embracing all offices are unlaiown to Texas primary polities. Ohe race for each office or place tends to be an isolated and more or less independent matter. Greatest interest is shown in the divisions of factions of the party that have developed in connection with thB ncHDination and election of a Presidential ticket.^ There were no Joint campaigns in the state because the oampaigna were run independently of each other. "Cam­ paigns for (Governor steer scrupulously clear of formal oonnecticms with other state races and races for federal and looal offices. "3 issues in a senatorial race usually did not influence a gubernatorial race, ccxigressional race, or presidential contest. ^ 0. Douglas lyeeks. Texas One«»Barty Politics In 1956 (Austin t metitute of Public Affairs, the Uhiveriity orrexas, 1957)* P. 3^. 3 V. 0. Key Jr. Southern Politics m State and nation (New York: Alfred A. Enopf, 19*^9),"?. 404. vi TbB choices of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, as evidenced by its editorial support, were also studied. The Lubbock AvBlanche-Joumal was organized in IS^T* Morning and Sunday editions were published. An evening edition was begun in 19^8. m 1956, Parker Prouty was President of the newspaper, Charles A. (hxy was Editor and Publisher, and Charles W. Ratliff was Associate Editor. Comparisons of the Lubbock County vote and the counties bordering Lubbock, which comprise the bulk of the circulation area of the paper, were made to see to what extent the newspaper may have in- fltienoed public opinion in the mrious races. Even with the newspaper's part in the eampaigne, it v^s necessary to see if the voters went to the polls on election day to support scmie well qmlified contestant or to vote against BomB candidate, as has too often been the case in Texas. This was difficult to determine since a vote for candidate A registered the same as a vote against candidate B. Too, the votes had to be studied to see if a vote might have ^^h for or against the Avalanche-Journal. The files of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal were the eource of most of the material concerning political cam*- jAigns in Lubbock County. The minutes and records of the pemooratie Barty of Lubbock County also proved quite useful. TABLE OP OQNTSNTS Page INTRODtlOTION iv Chester !• LTIBBOCK COTJBTT, TEXAS 1 II. THE GOTERNATORIAL ELECT IONS 4 III. THE SENATORIAL ELECTIONS 66 rv. THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS, NINETEENTH 9? CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT V. THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS 113 VI. THE EDITORIAL POLICY OF TBE LUBBOCK 133 AYALANCH&"JOTIRNAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 174 BIBLIOGRAPHY 18? AP5CTDIX 185 CHAPTER I LUBBOCK AND LUBBOCK COUNTY, TEXAS Lubbock Co\mty, Texas, has an area of 892 square miles and is looated on the High Plains of Texas. It was created in 1876, and organized In 1891, from Baylor County. The county and the city were both named for Colonel Tom S. Lubbook, organizer of a Southern force in the Civil War called Terry's Texas Rangers. The county's population in 1930 waB 39,104, and that of the city ?0,5?0. In July, 1956, the Chamber of Commerce estimated the county population at 163,138, and the city's at 132,634» The city witnessed one of the most rs^id growths of any city of coiiQ)arable sise in the United States during the 1920-1955 period.^ The city is the largest in the ooimty and the largest metropolitan city in the Hi^ Plains section of Texas. In 1950, with a county population of 101,048, and a city population of 71,747, the population breakdown L^^ Sga? Aliff^nac, 19?6^^7 (Dallas? A. H. Belo Corporation, 1957;, p. 673. Hereafter cited as TJ^ Texas ^ Ibid.. 1936, p. 4?8. ' The Lubbock Evening Journal. July 11, 1956. ^ The tej^ Almanac. 1956«*57. p. 673* according to residence listed 76^ of the population as inrban, 1?,4^ as nonfarm nnral, and 11.6^ farm rural. At the same time, the racial division of the population showed that 87*85^ of the people were Anglo American, 7.3jS Negro and 4«49^ Latin American. In the fall of each year there are large numbers of Latin American farm workers, mostly braoeros. who are in Lubbock for the harvest season only. Agriculture is the main industry of the county. I Lubbock County is the top ranking cotton producing coxxnty in the United States and the city is the third raziking in-» : land cotton market in the world. While ootton is the basic crop in the county, grain sori^ums, wheat, soybeans, and I truck crops of onions, potatoes and tomatoes are also pro* duced o(»neroially. ^ In 1956 there were about 188 industrial plants in 1 the city of lubbock aiid thr.e hundr-jd and fifty .hol.eal. I and Jobbing hotxses. The working force ws^ sli^tly under I fifty thousand. Retail sales had reached Sl75,079,OO0, and bank deposits had reached $194,6^5,000. Wages had also I reached an all time high of t54,095,924* Looated in Lubbock, 'The Hub of the Plains, * is Texas Teohnological College, second largest state college !in Texas. Also looated in Lubbock is MdKenzie State Park, 5 The TBtXMB Almanac. 1956-57. p. 673. ^ Ibid. Reese 4ir Force Base is looated a few miles west of the city. The number of people participating in Primary elec­ tions in the county increased steadily from 5,542 in 1930, to 19,954 in 1956.*^ The vote increased in the general elections from 1,373 in 1930 to ?5,576, althou^ a record 27,835 votes were cast in 1952.® The population increase from 1930 to 1956 was 553.65f»; the voting increase for the same period in the Democratic Primary was 260.05^'. The voting increase in the same period for the November votes compared to the record vote in 1952 was an astonishing 1,927.31^. The population gain was great in this period, but the voting gain, percentagewise, was even greater. griiaary Election Returns, Lubbock Democratic Party. Lubbook. Texas, 1222 JBS 32S^ o Election Returns. Office of Jhg County Clerk. Lubbock. Texas. Tg^remTlgftr^ ** -^ -'"*'" CHAPTER II THE GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS The gubernatorial elections in Texas usually interest­ ed the voters of the state more than any other race. More votes were cast for Governor in the primaries than in any other contest. Custom in the state has allowed a victorious candidate two terms with few exceptions. Nomination in the primary virtually meant election as the November elections were not seriously contested by the Republicans except for the formal nomination of a candidate to oppose the Demo­ cratic nominee on the ballot. No cangjaign for the governorship was ever an easy race except for possibly a few incumbents seeking a second term. Bitter political enemies took to the highwajrs and byways to blast euxd ridicule their opponents. Perhaps the bitter­ est campaign for governor in the history of state politics was that of 1946 between Beauford Jester and Dr. Homer F. Rainey, although the race between Allen iShiverb and Ralph Yarborou^ in 1954 was also a bitter battle.