Thomas
Connally, the son of a Confederate Army
soldier, was born in McLennan County, Texas, on 19th August, 1977.
After graduating from the University of Texas he became a lawyer in
Marlin.
A
member of the Democratic
Party,
Connally was elected to the House of Representatives in 1900. At the
time he was a progressive who was opposed to monopolies. However,
he became disillusioned with politics and resumed his law practice.
Connally served as Falls County prosecuting attorney from 1906 to
1910.
In
1916 Connally returned to politics when he was elected to Congress.
He joined the House Foreign Affairs Committee and became a strong
critic of United States policy in the Caribbean. Connally was also
an active opponent of the Ku Klux Klan and
defeated a Klansman, Earle B. Mayfield in 1928.
Connally
was originally a supporter of President
Franklin
D. Roosevelt
and his New Deal policies. However,
he came under pressure from wealthy oilmen in Texas and he gradually
moved to the right.
Ross
Sterling
was elected governor of Texas and he took office on 20th January,
1931. At this time the major oil producers in Texas were concerning
about the fall in price of oil. The Texas Railroad Commission, under
the control of these companies, attempted to limit the production
of oil (prorationing) in the new fields of East Texas. On 31st July,
1931, the federal court in Houston sided with a group of independent
oil producers and ruled that the Texas Railroad Commission had no
right to impose prorationing.
Large
oil companies in Texas such as Humble Oil were in favour of prorationing
and Sterling came under great pressure to intervene. On 16th August,
1931, Sterling declared martial law in Rusk, Upshur, Gregg and Smith
counties. In his proclamation Sterling declared that the independent
oil producers in these counties were "in a state of insurrection"
and that the "reckless and illegal exploitation of (oil) must
be stopped until such time as the said resources may be properly conserved
and developed under the protection of the civil authorities".
Sterling
now ordered the commander of the Texas National Guard, Jacob F. Wolters,
to "without delay shut down each and every producing crude oil
well and/or producing well of natural gas". Wolters who was the
chief lobbyist of several major oil companies in Texas, readily agreed
to this action. Wolters used more than a thousand troops to make sure
that the oil wells in East Texas ceased production. The Texas Railroad
Commission was now in firm control of the world's most prolific oil
fields. It now controlled the supply of the oil in the United
States. As a result, the price of oil began to increase.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt attempted to push a bill through Congress that would
give his Secretary of the Interior, Harold
Ickes, the authority to regulate domestic oil production. However,
Sam Rayburn, a politician from Texas,
as chairman of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce,
was able to kill the bill. It was left to Connally to sponsor the
Connally Hot Oil Act. This gave the Texas Railroad Commission the
authority to proration oil.
Connally
now became one of the leaders of the right-wing opponents to Roosevelt.
This including leading the fight against those attempting to pass
anti-lynching legislation. The
National Association for the Advancement of
Coloured People hoped that the election of Roosevelt in 1932 would
bring an end to lynching. Two African American campaigners against
lynching, Mary McLeod Bethune and Walter
Francis White, had been actively involved in helping Roosevelt
to obtain victory. The president's wife, Eleanor
Roosevelt, had also been a longtime opponent of lynching.
Robert
F. Wagner and Edward Costigan agreed
to draft a bill that would punish sheriffs who failed to protect their
prisoners from lynch mobs. In 1935 attempts were made to persuade
Roosevelt to support the Costigan-Wagner
bill. However, members of the Democratic
Party
from the Deep South warned
Roosevelt that white voters in the South would never forgive him if
he supported the bill.
Connally led the fight
against the Costian-Wagner proposals. Although the anti-lynching proposals
received a great deal of support from members of Congress, Connally's
filibuster tactics were able to stop it becoming law. However, the
national debate that took place over the issue helped to bring attention
to the crime of lynching.
Connally was a strong supporter
of Roosevelt's foreign policy. He was opposed to isolationism and
supported the Lend Lease Act of 1941.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1941-1947)
he helped draft the charter of the United Nations.
Connally also supported the formation of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Connally upset the Southern
Caucus with his support of Harry
S. Truman in
the 1948 presidential election. Attempts to unseat Truman by supporting
Storm
Thurmond ended
in failure. Connally now came under increasing pressure from right-wing
sources in Texas and he eventually decided to resign from the Senate.
Thomas Connally died on
28th October, 1963.
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