Miriam
Wallace was born in Bell County, Texas, on 13th June, 1875. She was
educated at Salado College and Baylor College.
In
1899 she married James Ferguson, a lawyer from Belton. Ferguson was
also involved in real estate and insurance and later turned his attention
to banking. In 1907 Ferguson helped to establish the Temple State
Bank.
A
member of the Democratic Party, Ferguson
took a keen interest in politics and in 1914 was elected as governor
of Texas. During his period of office he began a policy of state aid
to
rural schools tried to make attendance at school compulsory. This
increased spending on education resulted in the tax rate in Texas
being increased from 12½ to 30 cents.
In 1916 Ferguson was reelected
as governor. He continued with his policy of increased education spending
and the tax rate reached the constitutional maximum of thirty-five
cents. However, on 21st July, 1917, Ferguson appeared before the Travis
County grand jury, and indicted on nine charges. Seven of the charges
related to misapplication of public funds, one to embezzlement, and
one to the diversion of a special fund. The Court of Impeachment,
by a vote of twenty-five to three, removed Ferguson from office and
made him ineligible to hold any office in the state of Texas.
In 1924, with her husband
unable to stand, Miriam Ferguson decided to run for governor. Her
opponent, Felix Robertson, was endorsed by the Ku
Klux Klan. Ferguson defeated Robertson and in November, 1924,
defeated the Republican Party candidate
and therefore became the first woman governor of Texas. She was the
second woman governor in United States history, Nellie Ross, having
won in Wyoming a few days earlier.
Ferguson attempt at securing
an anti-mask law against the Ku Klux Klan
was passed but it was overturned by the courts. She also caused controversy
by pardoning an average of 100 convicts a month. It was claimed that
this was as a result of bribes being paid. Ferguson was also accused
of granting road contracts in return for lucrative kickbacks. Although
this was never proved, it resulted in her being defeated by James
Moody in 1926.
Ferguson stood again in
1930 but was defeated by Ross Sterling.
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".
Ross
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.
The
courts ruled that Sterling had exceeded his authority by the declaration
of martial law and he was easily defeated
by Ferguson when he attempted to be the Democratic
Party nominee
in 1932. Ferguson went on to defeat the Republican
Party candidate, Orville Bullington.
Ferguson's second term
was less controversial than her first period in office. However, her
attempts to introduce a state sales tax and corporate income tax were
rejected by the state legislature. She continued to parson criminals
but as this reduced the amount of money being spent on the prison
system, this time it created little criticism.
In 1934 Ferguson retired
from politics. However, she returned in 1940 with a radical programme
of increasing funding for secondary and higher education, a social
security for the elderly and support for the trade
union movement. However, she was defeated by the right-wing candidate,
Wilbert Lee O'Daniel.
Miriam
Ferguson died of heart failure on 25th June, 1961.
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