Waggoner Carr
Encyclopedia
Vincent Waggoner Carr was a Democratic
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and Attorney General of Texas.
east of Dallas
. In 1932, when the family bank
in Fairlie closed, the Carrs moved to Lubbock
just in time for Carr to graduate from Lubbock High School
in 1936. The senior Carr found work at Stubbs Feed Seed Company and decided that he wanted his sons to attend college. As a youth, Carr worked as a farm hand, magazine
salesman and theater usher.
In 1940, he completed his bachelor of business administration
degree at Texas Tech University
(then Texas Technological College) in Lubbock. Although he immediately began his legal studies after Texas Tech, Carr did not graduate from the University of Texas at Austin
law school until 1947. The delay came from his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps
as a pilot
during World War II
.
After they obtained their legal credentials, Carr and his brother, M. Warlick Carr
(1921–2008), established a law office in Lubbock. In 1948, Carr was appointed assistant district attorney for the 72nd Judicial District in Lubbock. He was also the elected county attorney for Lubbock County from 1949 to 1951.
from Lubbock District 19 in 1950. During his ensuing ten years of service, he focused on West Texas water quality
and availability. Under his leadership, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment and passed enabling legislation to establish the Texas Water Development Board. At its creation, the board was authorized to issue up to $200 million in water development bonds for the purpose of funding local water projects. Carr also helped to establish a code of ethics for legislators and lobbyists. He promoted tourism
and industrial development.
He was also Speaker
of the House for two consecutive terms, having served from 1957-1961. In his first election as Speaker, he won by eight votes 79-71 over his fellow Democratic member Joe Burkett, Jr. Through 1958, he was only the third person in Texas history to have been elected to two consecutive terms as Speaker. In the legislature Carr pushed for the creation of the Texas Youth Council and the recodification of juvenile laws, the modernization of workers' compensation
statutes, the reorganization of the State Insurance Board
, and the authorization and financing of a new State Library and Archives Building
in Austin.
Will Reid Wilson, Sr.
, a native of Dallas
who since relocated to Austin
. Wilson later became a Republican and in 1969 joined the Richard Nixon
administration as an assistant U.S. attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department
. Carr was elected attorney general in 1962—he defeated Tom Reavley in the Democratic primary. He was reelected in 1964, as all statewide Republican candidates in Texas were again defeated in the Johnson-Humphrey
landslide. As attorney general, he was involved in the prosecutions of swindler Billie Sol Estes
of Pecos
, and Jack Ruby
, or Jack Rubenstein, the Dallas nightclub
owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald
, the assassin
of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
.
), were among the dignitaries who ate breakfast with President and Mrs. Kennedy in Fort Worth
. The president went on to Dealey Plaza
in Dallas
, and the Carrs flew to the Texas Panhandle
for a speaking engagement. Carr learned of the tragic consequences in Dallas as his plane landed.
As fate intervened, Carr participated in the investigation of the JFK assassination. He sought to conduct a state probe, but that was blocked by the Warren Commission
, which was appointed by President Johnson to determine the circumstances leading to Kennedy's death. Carr testified that Oswald was working as an undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
and received $200 a month from September 1962 until his death in November 1963. However, the Warren Commission preferred to believe FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
, who denied Carr's affirmations.
Carr said that the combined state-federal probe was a success and that both teams worked well together. Years later, at the dedication of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
in Austin, Carr recalled that the investigation into the Kennedy assassination was thorough and professional: "It makes me sad that it [the assassination] happened, but it doesn't make me sad to share with the interested people of Texas about what this investigation revealed and how thorough it was and how nonpolitical it was."
incumbent
John Goodwin Tower
(1925–1991) for the United States Senate
. In doing so, Carr was unable to seek a third two-year term as Attorney General. Carr was defeated, and was only the second Texas Democrat in state history to lose a statewide general election since Reconstruction; the first having been William A. Blakley
of Dallas in his 1961 loss to Tower. Senator Tower received 842,501 votes (56.7 percent) to Carr's 643,855 (43.3 percent). In winning, Tower lost the majority of the rural
districts to Carr, who had the strong support of both President Lyndon B. Johnson
and Governor
John B. Connally, Jr., while Connally was still a Democrat. Tower, though, ran strongly in the larger urban areas. At the time of his loss to Tower, Carr had been voted the nation's best state attorney general by his peers.
. In 1968, however, he was bitten again by the political bug and ran for governor in the Democratic primary in a race to succeed his friend, the retiring John Connally. He ran third in the primary, and the nomination and the election eventually went to his fellow Lubbockite, Preston Smith, who defeated the Republican attorney Paul Eggers
of Wichita Falls
and later Dallas in the first of two consecutive matches between the two.
, conspiracy
, and filing false reports to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in what was called the "Sharpstown scandal." Acquitted
of all charges in 1974, he wrote the book, Waggoner Carr, Not Guilty (1977), with coauthor Jack Keever.
Carr had been considered part of the Connally wing of the Democratic Party prior to Connally's surprise defection in 1973 to the Republicans. A Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech
, Carr was appointed by his former opponent, Governor Smith, to the university's board of regents and served from 1969 to 1972. He also was state commander of the American Legion
.
In 1989, Carr was selected to chair the Action for Metropolitan Government Committee in an attempt to unite the Austin municipal and Travis County
governments. He was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Austin City Council in 1991, and that same year he was appointed by the Texas Supreme Court
to serve on a citizens' commission examining the Texas judicial system.
. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother. He was survived by his wife Ernestine, whom he met as a student at Texas Tech. She graduated from Tech with a bachelor of science
degree in home economics
. They had one son, Dr. David William Carr (born 1949), a dentist
in Austin, and his wife, Diana, and two granddaughters. He was also survived by two brothers, Warlick Carr and wife, Billilee "Bee" Regan Carr (both since deceased), and Dr. Robert L. Carr and wife Betty, and a sister, Virginia Campbell Carter and husband Bill, all of Lubbock. Carr was interred in the Texas State Cemetery
in Austin. At the time of his death, Carr was working on books about Jesse James
and the past attorneys general of Texas.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
wrote on Carr's passing: "He was a local boy made good, one who became a man of great power and responsibility in Texas but who never forgot his roots. And he was a loyal asset to Texas Tech who helped the university grow into what it is today."
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives and Attorney General of Texas.
Early years, education, military service
Carr was born to Vincent Carr (1892–1983) and the former Ruth Warlick (1897–1985) in Fairlie in Hunt CountyHunt County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 76,596 people, 28,742 households, and 20,521 families residing in the county. The population density was 91 people per square mile . There were 32,490 housing units at an average density of 39 per square mile...
east of 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...
. In 1932, when the family bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
in Fairlie closed, the Carrs moved to 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...
just in time for Carr to graduate from Lubbock High School
Lubbock High School
Lubbock High School is a 5A high school serving grades nine to twelve in Lubbock, Texas . Part of the Lubbock Independent School District, the school is known for its academic program and for the fact that it has produced a number of talented musicians, vocalists, businessmen, and scientists over...
in 1936. The senior Carr found work at Stubbs Feed Seed Company and decided that he wanted his sons to attend college. As a youth, Carr worked as a farm hand, magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
salesman and theater usher.
In 1940, he completed his bachelor of business administration
Bachelor of Business Administration
The Bachelor of Business Administration is a bachelor's degree in Commerce and business administration. In most universities, the degree is conferred upon a student after four years of full-time study in one or more areas of business concentrations; see below...
degree at 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...
(then Texas Technological College) in Lubbock. Although he immediately began his legal studies after Texas Tech, Carr did not graduate from the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
law school until 1947. The delay came from his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
as a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
After they obtained their legal credentials, Carr and his brother, M. Warlick Carr
Warlick Carr
Marvin Warlick Carr was a prominent American attorney in Lubbock, Texas, and the brother of former Texas Attorney General Waggoner Carr...
(1921–2008), established a law office in Lubbock. In 1948, Carr was appointed assistant district attorney for the 72nd Judicial District in Lubbock. He was also the elected county attorney for Lubbock County from 1949 to 1951.
Ten years in the legislature
Carr was elected to the Texas House of RepresentativesTexas 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...
from Lubbock District 19 in 1950. During his ensuing ten years of service, he focused on West Texas water quality
Water quality
Water quality is the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of water. It is a measure of the condition of water relative to the requirements of one or more biotic species and or to any human need or purpose. It is most frequently used by reference to a set of standards against which...
and availability. Under his leadership, the legislature proposed a constitutional amendment and passed enabling legislation to establish the Texas Water Development Board. At its creation, the board was authorized to issue up to $200 million in water development bonds for the purpose of funding local water projects. Carr also helped to establish a code of ethics for legislators and lobbyists. He promoted tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and industrial development.
He was also Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
of the House for two consecutive terms, having served from 1957-1961. In his first election as Speaker, he won by eight votes 79-71 over his fellow Democratic member Joe Burkett, Jr. Through 1958, he was only the third person in Texas history to have been elected to two consecutive terms as Speaker. In the legislature Carr pushed for the creation of the Texas Youth Council and the recodification of juvenile laws, the modernization of workers' compensation
Workers' compensation
Workers' compensation is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence...
statutes, the reorganization of the State Insurance Board
Texas Department of Insurance
The Texas Department of Insurance is the regulator of all Texas-based insurance companies and was founded as a result of the McCarran-Ferguson Act. The agency is headquartered at the William P. Hobby State Office Building at 333 Guadalupe Street in Austin, Texas, United States.TDI Fraud UnitThe...
, and the authorization and financing of a new State Library and Archives Building
Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building
The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building is a state library and historic landmark in Downtown Austin, Texas.The building is named in honor of Lorenzo de Zavala, a statesman in Texas history....
in Austin.
Attorney General of Texas
In 1960, Carr ran, not for a sixth two-year term in the Texas House, but for attorney general. He lost the Democratic nomination to the incumbentIncumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Will Reid Wilson, Sr.
Will Wilson
Will Reid Wilson, Sr. was a prominent Democratic politician in his native Texas best known for his service as attorney general of Texas from 1957-1963. In 1968, he joined the Republican Party to support the election of Richard M. Nixon as U.S. President. Nixon thereafter named Wilson an assistant...
, a native of 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...
who since relocated to 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...
. Wilson later became a Republican and in 1969 joined the Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
administration as an assistant U.S. attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Justice Department
United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all federal criminal laws in the United States, except those specifically assigned to other divisions. Criminal Division attorneys prosecute many nationally significant cases and formulate and...
. Carr was elected attorney general in 1962—he defeated Tom Reavley in the Democratic primary. He was reelected in 1964, as all statewide Republican candidates in Texas were again defeated in the Johnson-Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
landslide. As attorney general, he was involved in the prosecutions of swindler Billie Sol Estes
Billie Sol Estes
Billie Sol Estes is an American former financier best known for his association with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Mr. Estes currently lives in Granbury, Texas.-Fraud charges:...
of Pecos
Pecos, Texas
Pecos is the largest city in and the county seat of Reeves County, Texas, United States. It is situated in the river valley on the west bank of the Pecos River at the eastern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert and the Trans-Pecos region of west Texas and near the southern border of New Mexico...
, and Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby
Jacob Leon Rubenstein , who legally changed his name to Jack Leon Ruby in 1947, was convicted of the November 24, 1963 murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Ruby, who was originally from Chicago, Illinois, was then a nightclub operator in Dallas, Texas...
, or Jack Rubenstein, the Dallas nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
owner who murdered Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
, the assassin
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.
The Kennedy assassination
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Carr and his wife, the former Ernestine Story (born April 22, 1920, in WylieWylie, Texas
Not to be confused with the unincorporated area of Wylie, Texas just outside Abilene, Texas.Wylie is a city in Collin, Dallas, and Rockwall Counties in the U.S. state of Texas, and a suburb of Dallas. At the 2000 Census, the population was 15,132; 2004 estimates pegged it at 25,850...
), were among the dignitaries who ate breakfast with President and Mrs. Kennedy in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
. The president went on to Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza
Dealey Plaza , in the historic West End district of downtown Dallas, Texas , is the location of the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
in 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 the Carrs flew to the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
for a speaking engagement. Carr learned of the tragic consequences in Dallas as his plane landed.
As fate intervened, Carr participated in the investigation of the JFK assassination. He sought to conduct a state probe, but that was blocked by the Warren Commission
Warren Commission
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on November 27, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963...
, which was appointed by President Johnson to determine the circumstances leading to Kennedy's death. Carr testified that Oswald was working as an undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
and received $200 a month from September 1962 until his death in November 1963. However, the Warren Commission preferred to believe FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
, who denied Carr's affirmations.
Carr said that the combined state-federal probe was a success and that both teams worked well together. Years later, at the dedication of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, is a history museum in Austin, Texas. The museum is a division of the Texas State Preservation Board. Its stated mission is to tell "the Story of Texas."...
in Austin, Carr recalled that the investigation into the Kennedy assassination was thorough and professional: "It makes me sad that it [the assassination] happened, but it doesn't make me sad to share with the interested people of Texas about what this investigation revealed and how thorough it was and how nonpolitical it was."
The 1966 U.S. Senate campaign
As the sitting attorney general in 1966, Carr challenged RepublicanRepublican 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...
incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
John Goodwin Tower
John Tower
John Goodwin Tower was the first Republican United States senator from Texas since Reconstruction. He served from 1961 until his retirement in January 1985, after which time he was the chairman of the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. He was George H. W...
(1925–1991) for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. In doing so, Carr was unable to seek a third two-year term as Attorney General. Carr was defeated, and was only the second Texas Democrat in state history to lose a statewide general election since Reconstruction; the first having been William A. Blakley
William A. Blakley
William Arvis "Dollar Bill" Blakley was an American senator and businessman from the State of Texas. He served two incomplete terms as Senator, the first in 1957, the second in 1961...
of Dallas in his 1961 loss to Tower. Senator Tower received 842,501 votes (56.7 percent) to Carr's 643,855 (43.3 percent). In winning, Tower lost the majority of the rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
districts to Carr, who had the strong support of both 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...
and Governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
John B. Connally, Jr., while Connally was still a Democrat. Tower, though, ran strongly in the larger urban areas. At the time of his loss to Tower, Carr had been voted the nation's best state attorney general by his peers.
A last campaign in 1968
After leaving public office in January 1967, Carr went into private practice and eventually joined the law firm of DeLeon and Boggins in AustinAustin, 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...
. In 1968, however, he was bitten again by the political bug and ran for governor in the Democratic primary in a race to succeed his friend, the retiring John Connally. He ran third in the primary, and the nomination and the election eventually went to his fellow Lubbockite, Preston Smith, who defeated the Republican attorney Paul 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...
of Wichita Falls
Wichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...
and later Dallas in the first of two consecutive matches between the two.
Sharpstown survivor
In 1971, Carr was indicted and tried on charges of fraudFraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
, and filing false reports to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in what was called the "Sharpstown scandal." Acquitted
Acquittal
In the common law tradition, an acquittal formally certifies the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as the criminal law is concerned. This is so even where the prosecution is abandoned nolle prosequi...
of all charges in 1974, he wrote the book, Waggoner Carr, Not Guilty (1977), with coauthor Jack Keever.
Carr had been considered part of the Connally wing of the Democratic Party prior to Connally's surprise defection in 1973 to the Republicans. A Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech
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...
, Carr was appointed by his former opponent, Governor Smith, to the university's board of regents and served from 1969 to 1972. He also was state commander of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
.
In 1989, Carr was selected to chair the Action for Metropolitan Government Committee in an attempt to unite the Austin municipal and Travis County
Travis County, Texas
As of 2009, the U.S. census estimates there were 1,026,158 people, 320,766 households, and 183,798 families residing in the county. The population density was 821 people per square mile . There were 335,881 housing units at an average density of 340 per square mile...
governments. He was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Austin City Council in 1991, and that same year he was appointed by the 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...
to serve on a citizens' commission examining the Texas judicial system.
Death and legacy
Carr died in Austin after a ten-year bout with cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother. He was survived by his wife Ernestine, whom he met as a student at Texas Tech. She graduated from Tech with a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in home economics
Home Economics
Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...
. They had one son, Dr. David William Carr (born 1949), a dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
in Austin, and his wife, Diana, and two granddaughters. He was also survived by two brothers, Warlick Carr and wife, Billilee "Bee" Regan Carr (both since deceased), and Dr. Robert L. Carr and wife Betty, and a sister, Virginia Campbell Carter and husband Bill, all of Lubbock. Carr was interred in 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. At the time of his death, Carr was working on books about Jesse James
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...
and the past attorneys general of Texas.
The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal is a newspaper based in Lubbock, Texas, U.S. It is owned by the Morris Communications Company.-History:The Lubbock Avalanche was founded in 1900 by John James Dillard and Thad Tubbs. According to Dillard, the name "Avalanche" was chosen due to his desire that the...
wrote on Carr's passing: "He was a local boy made good, one who became a man of great power and responsibility in Texas but who never forgot his roots. And he was a loyal asset to Texas Tech who helped the university grow into what it is today."