He was by this time an old man. In July 1917, he was indicted for misappropriation of funds. When they wouldnt, he started replacing them one by one and withheld state funding from the university to force UT to obey his orders. The prohibitionists held an elimination convention and pledged their support to Thomas H. Ball of Houston. . Centex baseball preview: What's old, new, borrowed and blue for 2023? This led to a special session being called by the Legislature, to press for Fergusons impeachment. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Gould, Lewis L. "The University Becomes Politicized: The War with Jim Ferguson." Though Fergusons hatred for UT ran deep, he never fully explained his animus. The vote was 25-3. Ma Ferguson was elected as Govenor or Texas in 1925 and in 1933. His wife was defeated for re-election in 1926, following questions of improper use of her pardoning power. He was associated with the Farmers State Bank of Belton for several years and was a member of the Texas Bankers Association. He lost the 1922 Democratic Primary race for U.S. Senate by a wide margin. Ma placed a distant fifth. The most that the select committee can do would be to recommend to the full state house that articles of impeachment be drafted. With strong support from progressive and anti-Prohibition forces, "Farmer Jim" was elected governor of Texas in 1914. The Legislature cannot call itself into special session. Lewis L. Gould, Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1992). He was a popular figure, signing laws protecting sharecroppers and providing state funding for rural schools. "Ferguson Impeachment As a result of his actions, in 1917, Ferguson became the only Texas governor impeached and removed from office. Only two elected officials in the history of Texas have ever been successfully impeached. The Fergusons retired from public life afterward with James Ferguson dying in 1944 and his wife passing away in 1961. His law practice did not require all of his time, so Ferguson expanded his interests to include real estate and insurance and later turned his attention to banking. This is why I so often say, Im W. F. Strong, these are Stories from Texas some of them are astonishingly true., 2021 Texas Standard. Leah LaGrone Ochoa then explores Fergusons hot-and-cold relationship with the Texas press, and Mark Stanley examines the impact of the impeachment on Texas politics in the decades that followed. James E. Ferguson", Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature 18462006, "Governor Ferguson Is Impeached By The Senate Saturday, By 27 to 4: 10 of 21 Charges Sustained By High Impeachment Court", "Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 18462010", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_E._Ferguson&oldid=1136223529, Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election, Impeached state and territorial governors of the United States removed from office, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2020, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 29 January 2023, at 09:22. Copyright 2022 Coordinating Council for Women in History. In 1924, unable to run under his own name, he ran his wife's campaign for the governorship against Judge Felix Robertson, the candidate endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan. Dan Moody. When the House is not in session, there are three ways that the House may be convened for purposes of impeachment. Three new normal schools were authorized. The Senate can call witnesses to testify and vote to convict with a two-thirds majority vote. Legislators have accused Hall of abusing his power and targeting University of Texas, Austin President Bill Powers, while Hall maintains he was acting as a responsible regent investigating situations of clout and accountability problems within the University of Texas system. "Ferguson Impeachment In 1930 he conducted the unsuccessful campaign of his wife for the governorship, and in 1932 he conducted her successful campaign for the same office. James Ferguson. In retaliation, Ferguson vetoed the entire appropriation for the university. Cities | Ferguson declared that the legislature constituted little more than a "kangaroo court," but only a few The legality of the speaker calling a session was questionable the Texas Constitution says only the governor can call a special session but the point became moot when Ferguson called his own special session to discuss the budget for the University of Texas. They then sent the charges to the State Senate for trial. He was barred, but managed to have his wife ("Ma Ferguson") elected governor; she was elected for a second term in 1932. Elections in 2023 | But the mere fact that Ferguson had been impeached and made ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit under the state did not in any sense remove him from the field of Texas politics. At the same time, officials had begun looking into Fergusons finances. James Ferguson is the only governor to be impeached and convicted. Dr. Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan who enjoys sharing these stories about people from the Lone Star state. As much as one might appreciate Fergusons homey aphorisms, a word hed likely have found objectionable because of its academic taint his style loses its charm when you learn all that was revealed at his impeachment. After 20 days have elapsed from article adoption, if the Governor, Lt. He was elected governor in 1914, his first election. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Both elected and non-elected officials can be impeached in Texas. Ferguson was convinced that Vinson was behind the protest. ." Impeachment is the power of a legislative body to address charges of impropriety or criminality by a government official, such as a governor or lieutenant governor. StrongJanuary 29, 202010:48 amArts & Culture, Stories From Texas, Bain News Service /Wikimedia Commons [Public domain]. Seven related to misapplication of public funds, one to embezzlement and one to the diversion of a special fund. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than two dozen books, most recently Anti-Black Violence in Twentieth-Century Texas. the lieutenant governor Though he was kicked out of office and disgraced in front of his colleagues, Ferguson was still popular among his hardcore supporters and rallied back. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Norman D. Brown, Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921-1928 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1984). The Constitution gives the House power to impeach the president, officials appointed by the president (including cabinet officers) and judges. Carillo in 1975. The specifics are left to the state legislators to determine. He ended up back in the Governors Mansion for a third time when she became the first woman governor in Texas history. Ballotpedia's election legislation tracker, Political favoritism in admissions to the University of Texas, Forgivable loans program at the University of Texas Law School, House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations (TSAO), Joint Committee on Oversight of Higher Ed Governance, Excellence & Transparency, University of Texas System Board of Regents, 1987 Memorandum within the Texas Legislative Council regarding removal of state officers by the state legislature, Analysis of Constitutional Impeachment Procedures in Texas, Texas House Bill 588, the "Top 10% Rule" (1997), https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Impeachments_in_Texas&oldid=8020920, Conflicts in school board elections, 2021-2022, Special Congressional elections (2023-2024), 2022 Congressional Competitiveness Report, State Executive Competitiveness Report, 2022, State Legislative Competitiveness Report, 2022, Partisanship in 2022 United States local elections. She won that and the general election,[2] saying that she intended to rely on her husband for advice. Impeached provides a new examination of the rise and fall of Ferguson's political fortunes, offering a focused look at how battles over economic class, academic freedom, women's enfranchisement, and concentrated political power came to be directed toward one . That committee has been holding a series of meetings in late 2013. Similarly, the Texas Constitution gives the lower house of the legislature power to impeach judges, the governor and statewide elected officials. Ferguson cleverly resigned, claiming then that the Senate couldnt uphold an impeachment for someone who wasnt actually in office. Yet the House rejected a broad attempt to impeach Johnson for abuse of power in 1867, because many congressmen felt a president had to commit a crime to be impeached. Ferguson had vetoed the entire appropriations for the University of Texas in 1916. At age 12 he entered Salado College (a preparatory school) but was eventually expelled for disobedience. Dictionary of American History. In addition, he established Farmers State Bank. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. When the Democratic Party dominated the Texas political landscape, winning the Democratic primary often sealed the election results. Apply today! The founders did not invent impeachment. The charges were then sent to the state Senate for trial. Its our 10th year participating in Amplify, and to celebrate, weve got $15,000 in matching funds from four generous Tribune supporters. He tapped Reverend Allan Ferguson Cunningham to serve as State Librarian, despite his lack of training or experience in the field. The legislature passed generous appropriation bills, and the ad valorem tax rate reached the constitutional maximum of thirty-five cents. He only made the ballot in Texas, winning just under 10% of the vote. ." In 1924, his wife, Miriam Ma Ferguson won election as governor as a stand-in candidate in a tightly contested race. Instead, the House immediately turned its attention to 21 articles of impeachment. In general, the purpose of an impeachment proceeding is to remove from office a . Impeached provides a new examination of the rise and fall of Ferguson's political fortunes, offering a focused look at how battles over economic class, academic freedom, women's enfranchisement, and concentrated political power came to be directed toward one politician. The anti-prohibitionists attempted to have a similar convention, but Ferguson, whose statements and Bell County record identified him as an anti-prohibitionist, refused to submit his name to it. James Ferguson. [4], In Texas, two officials have been successfully impeached -- Governor James Ferguson in 1917 and Judge O.P. He claimed to be painstakingly honest; he was an embezzler. Unable to run under his own name, Ferguson ran his wife's campaign for Governor; Miriam A. Ferguson, known as "Ma" Ferguson, was twice elected as governor, serving two non-consecutive terms, from 1925 to 1927 and 1933 to 1935. By W.F. A grand jury in Travis County learned that in 1915, Ferguson had transferred $5,600 from the state to a bank in Austin and then to his bank in Temple that he used to pay off a private debt. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky is the Distinguished Professor of Digital Humanities and History at Texas A&M UniversityCommerce. Hall updated Governor Rick Perry's office in April 2013 with the full list. "[19] Texas state legislators have never previously tried to remove an appointed official. Democratic nominee James M. Cox won in Texas, where the white majority was voting solidly Democratic. 1917: James 'Pa' Ferguson Jr., Texas. Advocates are pushing for legislation to help them. The Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and finally convicted the governor on ten of them. He made only a few speeches and must have known long before the votes were cast that Mrs. Ferguson had no chance to win. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. After an unsuccessful campaign for president in 1920, Ferguson ran the gubernatorial campaign of his wife, Miriam Ma Ferguson, in 1924. Though no Texas official has been impeached and removed from office at the state level since Ferguson, Texas politics has hardly been scandal-free. Ferguson was reelected by a majority of about 60,000 votes, but opposition was sufficient to show that many Texans, including a number who were not prohibitionists, were displeased with his stewardship. [10][11] However, a letter from University chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in February 2014 said that Hall likely requested fewer than 100,000 pages. Eight governors have been removed from office through impeachment. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment in federal cases. Mrs. Ferguson served as the first lady of Texas during the gubernatorial terms of her husband (1915-17), who was impeached during his second administration. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. He was re-elected in 1916. Your donation keeps our trusted reporting free and accessible for all Texans and during a legislative session when lawmakers are set to tackle issues from school choice for K-12 students to school safety improvements to changes in property taxes, its critical that Texans know what lawmakers decisions mean for their futures. This independence made him critical of existing policies, earning him sufficient popular support to win office, but also the consequent wrath of the establishment that could have protected him from investigation. . Impeachment is the equivalent of an indictment. The first had to do with his abuse of power while attempting to micromanage the University of Texas. An effort was begun in 2013 to investigate the possibility of impeaching University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall. In 1924, Ferguson entered his wife Miriam, known as "Ma", in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. [11] Another leading Ferguson critic on the UT campus was the historian Eugene C. Barker. State and local courts | And here, Ferguson made his second blunder. Vinson asked what they had done to deserve it and he said, I dont need a reason, Im the governor.. Join us! Jim Ferguson got in trouble for throwing his weight around, and for using the publics money as a personal slush fund. In 1925, Miriam became the first female governor of Texas after campaigning as a stand-in for her husband, and James E. Ferguson became the first gentleman of Texas for her two terms. The impeachment process begins with the House of Representatives. 2-stem governor fro 1921-1924 . Jim "Pa" Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Fergusonreveals how power ebbed and flowed in twentieth-century Texas and includes several annotated primary documents critical to understanding the Ferguson impeachment. In 1940 Mrs. Ferguson again sought the governorship, and for the last time "Farmer Jim" appealed to the voters of Texas. Pat Neff. He left home at sixteen and wandered for two years through the states of the Far West, where he lived by accepting any employment offered. He posted bond and wasted no time in announcing his candidacy for a third term as governor. No. To impeach, the House simply needs a majority vote on the different charges involved. Ferguson declared that the Legislature was nothing more than a kangaroo court," resigned a day before the official conviction, and was steadfast in his beliefs that the judgment didnt apply to him, according to Rutherford. Connally, John Bowden, Jr. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. Ferguson convinced his wife to run one more time in 1940. She was reelected in 1932 and served January 17, 1933 January 15, 1935. Click here to contact us for media inquiries, and please donate here to support our continued expansion. There are 150 members of the Texas State House. Ferguson won the nomination by a majority of about 40,000 votes. The reason he called the special session was because he wanted to address the UT budget, but they impeached him instead. The Fergusons beat Robertson and went to the Governor's Mansion for a third time. 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