Preston Smith (Texas) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Preston Earnest Smith was the 40th Governor of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

from 1969 to 1973, who earlier served as the lieutenant governor

Lieutenant Governor of Texas

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the...

from 1963 to 1969.

Early life

Smith was born into a tenant farming family of 13 children in Williamson County

Williamson County, Texas

Williamson County is a county located on both the Edwards Plateau to the west, consisting of rocky terrain and hills, and Blackland Prairies in the east consising of rich, fertile farming land, The two areas are roughly bisected by Interstate 35...

near Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

. The family later moved to Lamesa, the seat of Dawson County on the Texas South Plains

South Plains

South Plains is a vernacular term that refers to a region in West Texas consisting of the portion of the Llano Estacado extending south of the Texas Panhandle, centered at Lubbock. While prominent in the area of petroleum production, the South Plains is mainly an agricultural region, producing a...

, where Smith graduated from Lamesa High School in 1928. He thereafter graduated from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University

Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...

) in Lubbock

Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...

and built a movie theater

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

by the middle 1940s.

Political career

Smith was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives

Texas House of Representatives

The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...

in 1944 and then to the Texas State Senate in 1956. He won the Senate seat by defeating in the primary the incumbent Kilmer B. Corbin

Kilmer B. Corbin

Kilmer Blaine Corbin, Sr. , the father of actor Barry Corbin, was a Lubbock, Texas, attorney who served as a Democratic member of the Texas State Senate from Distrrict 28 for two terms from 1949 to 1957....

, the father of actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

Barry Corbin

Leonard Barrie Corbin, known as Barry Corbin , is an American actor with more than one hundred film, television and video game credits.-Early life:...

. In 1962, Smith won the lieutenant governor's race, securing majorities in all but 16 of the 254 counties to defeat the Republican O.W. "Bill" Hayes, the running-mate of gubernatorial candidate Jack M. Cox

Jack Cox (Texas)

Jack M. Cox was an oil equipment executive from Houston and the 1962 Republican gubernatorial nominee in the state of Texas.-Early years:...

of Houston

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

.

In 1968, Smith was elected governor, a position he held from 1969 to 1973. He succeeded the popular Democratic Governor John B. Connally, Jr.

John Connally

John Bowden Connally, Jr. , was an influential American politician, serving as the 39th governor of Texas, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy, and as Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard M. Nixon. While he was Governor in 1963, Connally was a passenger in the car in...

, who later switched to the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. To win the governorship, Smith first defeated Don Yarborough

Don Yarborough

Donald Howard Yarborough, known as Don Yarborough , was a liberal Democratic politician who was reportedly the first Southern politician to endorse the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Yarborough, an attorney in Houston, Texas, ran for governor of Texas in 1962, 1964, and 1968...

in the 1968 Democratic runoff election. Several other candidates, including Dolph Briscoe

Dolph Briscoe

Dolph Briscoe, Jr. was a Uvalde, Texas rancher and businessman who was the 41st Governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979....

, a large landholder from Uvalde

Uvalde, Texas

Uvalde is a city in and the county seat of Uvalde County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,929 at the 2000 census.Uvalde was founded by Reading Wood Black in 1853 as the town of Encina. In 1856, when the county was organized, the town was renamed Uvalde for Spanish governor Juan de...

in the Texas Hill Country

Texas Hill Country

The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...

, and former Texas Attorney General

Texas Attorney General

The Texas Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Texas.The department has offices at the William P. Clements State Office Building at 300 West 15th Street in Austin.-History:...

Waggoner Carr

Vincent Waggoner Carr was a Democratic Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and Attorney General of Texas.-Early years, education, military service:...

, also of Lubbock, were eliminated in the primary.

Smith then twice defeated Republican

Republican Party (United States)

nominee Paul W. Eggers

Paul Eggers

Paul Walter Eggers is an Indiana native who was the Republican nominee for governor of Texas in both 1968 and 1970, when the state still had two-year gubernatorial terms. Eggers' races for governor were his only attempts at elected office...

, a tax attorney from Wichita Falls and later Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, and a close friend of U.S. Senator John G. Tower. In the high-turnout general election of 1968, Smith received 1,662,019 ballots (57 percent) to Eggers' 1,254,333 (43 percent). In the low-turnout general election of 1970, Smith, who had been unopposed in the Democratic primaries, received 1,197,726 votes (53.6 percent) to Eggers' 1,037,723 (46.4 percent). Smith's terms were still two years each. The state switched to four-year terms in 1974.

Smith was embroiled in the Sharpstown scandal

Sharpstown scandal

The Sharpstown scandal was a stock fraud scandal in the state of Texas in 1971 and 1972 involving the highest levels of the state government. The name came from the involvement of the Sharpstown area of Houston.-Background:...

stock fraud scheme of 1971 and 1972, which eventually led to his downfall. Smith lost his third-term bid for the governorship of Texas

Texas

to Dolph Briscoe

Dolph Briscoe

Dolph Briscoe, Jr. was a Uvalde, Texas rancher and businessman who was the 41st Governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979....

of Uvalde

Uvalde, Texas

in the Democratic primary in 1972. He ran a distant fourth in the primary, behind Briscoe, women's activist Frances "Sissy" Farenthold

Frances Farenthold

Frances Tarlton Farenthold , commonly referred to as Sissy Farenthold, is an American Democratic politician, attorney and educator, who was the third woman whose name was put into nomination for Vice President of the United States at a major party's nominating convention Frances Tarlton Farenthold...

of Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...

, and Lieutenant Governor Ben F. Barnes, formerly of Comanche County

Comanche County, Texas

Comanche County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas. In 2000, its population was 14,026. Comanche was founded in 1856. Comanche is named for the Comanche Native American tribe...

.

Among his appointments, Smith named former State Senator Grady Hazlewood

Grady Hazlewood

Grady Hazlewood was a Democratic member of the Texas State Senate from 1941 to 1971, having represented the Amarillo-based District 31 in the Panhandle...

of Amarillo

Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

and Austin as a regent of Hazlewood's alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

, West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University , part of the Texas A&M University System, is a public university located in Canyon, Texas, a small city south of Amarillo. West Texas A&M opened on September 20, 1910...

in Canyon

Canyon, Texas

Canyon is a city in Randall County, Texas, United States. The population was 12,875 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Randall County. It is the home of West Texas A&M University and Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is some twelve miles east of Canyon...

.In 1969, Smith named state Representative Randy Pendleton

Randy Pendleton

Randall George Pendleton, known as Randy Pendleton , was a businessman from Andrews, Texas, and later a lobbyist in Austin, who served as a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives from 1961–1969....

of Andrews

Andrews, Texas

Andrews is a city in and the county seat of Andrews County in the U.S. state of Texas within the West Texas region. The population was 10,448 in 2009. Along with Midland and Odessa, these cities form the Midland-Odessa Combined Statistical Area with a population of 241,316 in four counties...

to head the Office of State and Federal Relations in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

Later life and attempted political comeback

In 1974, Smith joined banker Stanton Leon Koop (1937–2008), a native of Pampa

Pampa, Texas

Pampa is a city in Gray County, Texas, United States. The population was 17,887 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gray County.Pampa is the principal city of the Pampa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Gray and Roberts counties....

, in forming the West Texas Savings Association in Lubbock. In 1986, Koop moved to Dallas, where he was affiliated with Great Western Mortgage Company, until his retirement in 1994.

In 1978, at the age of sixty-six, Smith again entered the Democratic gubernatorial primary against his intraparty rival, Governor Briscoe. Both Smith and Briscoe lost in the primary to former Texas Supreme Court

Texas Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Texas is the court of last resort for non-criminal matters in the state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is the court of last resort for criminal matters.The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices...

Chief Justice John Hill

John Hill (Texas politician)

John Luke Hill, Jr. , was a Texas lawyer, Democratic politician, and judge. He is thus far the only person to have served as Secretary of State of Texas, Texas Attorney General, and Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court....

, who in turn was narrowly defeated in the general election

General election

In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

by Republican Bill Clements

Bill Clements

William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...

Toward the end of his life, Smith worked as a political liaison officer for Texas Tech University. After his death in Lubbock, the airport was renamed in 2004 in his memory as Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport

Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport is an airport located just north of Lubbock, Texas. Originally known as Lubbock International Airport, it was renamed in 2004 to honor former Texas governor Preston E. Smith, an alumnus of Texas Tech University...

.
Smith termed himself a "conservative Democrat"; although he was generally supportive of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

, he refused to support his party's nominees for president in 1980 and for governor in 1982. Instead of voting to reelect President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

and Mark White

Mark White

Mark Wells White is an American lawyer, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.-Biography:...

in the gubernatorial race, Smith cast his ballot for Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

and Bill Clements, respectively.

Smith died in Lubbock. He is interred with his wife, Ima Mae Smith (1911-1998), at the Texas State Cemetery

Texas State Cemetery

The Texas State Cemetery is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, the capital of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revolutionary general and Vice-President of the Republic of Texas, it was expanded into a Confederate cemetery during the Civil War...

in Austin.

External links

Programs for people, by Preston Smith, published 1973, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/020508/obi_243811655.shtml
Papers, 1930-1975 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University

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