Dolph Briscoe

Dolph Briscoe Jr. (April 23, 1923 – June 27, 2010) was an American rancher and businessman from Uvalde, Texas, who was the 41st governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979.

He was a member of the Democratic Party.

Because of his re-election following an amendment to the Texas Constitution doubling the Governor's term to four years, Briscoe became both the last governor to serve a two-year term and the first to serve a four-year term.

Dolph Briscoe Jr., was born on April 23, 1923, the only child of Dolph Sr. and Georgie Briscoe in Uvalde, Texas.

His father was a descendant of Texas Declaration of Independence signer Andrew Briscoe.

Briscoe was first attracted to politics at an early age.

While at the university, he met fellow student Betty Jane "Janey" Slaughter (1923 – 2000) of Austin.

Thanks to his father's friendship with Governor Ross Sterling, the young Briscoe traveled to Austin and the Texas Governor's Mansion in 1932.

At the age of nine, Governor Sterling invited Briscoe to stay at the mansion and sleep in Sam Houston's bed.

After graduation from Uvalde High School as valedictorian, Briscoe attended the University of Texas at Austin.

He was active in many campus organizations, including the Friar Society, the Texas Cowboys, Chi Phi Fraternity, and was editor of The Cactus yearbook.

They married in 1942 and had three children.

After graduation from the University of Texas in 1943 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Briscoe enlisted as a private in the United States Army.

He served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II and advanced in rank to become an officer.

When Briscoe returned from military service, he returned home to Uvalde and the ranching business.

He soon rekindled his interest in politics.

Briscoe counted Vice President John Nance Garner, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, House Speaker Sam Rayburn, and Governor Sterling as his political mentors.

A lifelong resident of Uvalde, Briscoe was first elected to the Texas Legislature in 1948 and served as a state representative from 1949 to 1957.

Briscoe's first step into elective politics began with a race for state representative in the Texas House of Representatives in 1948.

He won his first election and was re-elected in 1950, 1952 and 1954 and served from 1949 to 1957.

He became best known as the co-author of the Colson-Briscoe Act, which appropriated funding for the state's farm-to-market road system.

In 1968, Briscoe attempted to reenter the political arena, when he joined a list of candidates seeking to replace retiring Texas Gov. John Connally, who chose not to seek a fourth term.

Briscoe finished fourth in the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year.

There was a runoff between the more liberal contender, Don Yarborough of Houston (no relation to U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough), and Lieutenant Governor Preston Smith of Lubbock.

Smith won the runoff and then defeated Republican Paul Eggers by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent in the November general election and was subsequently re-elected defeating Eggers in their 1970 rematch, 53 percent to 46 percent.

As part of the reform movement in state politics stemming from the Sharpstown scandal, Briscoe won election as governor in 1972.

During his six years as governor, Briscoe presided during a period of reform in state government as Texas's population and commerce boomed.

Following his two terms as governor, Briscoe returned to the ranching and banking business in Uvalde.

He is recognized as having been one of the leading citizens of the state and a benevolent supporter of many civic, cultural, and educational institutions in Texas and the nation.

Most recently before his death the former Texas governor established the Dolph and Janey Briscoe Fund for Texas History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Briscoe was inaugurated as the forty-first governor of Texas on January 16, 1973.

During his two terms as governor, Briscoe balanced increasing demands for more state services and a rapidly growing population.

As the governor elected during a period of social unrest and skepticism about the motives of elected officials, he helped restore integrity to a state government fallen into disgrace as a result of the Sharpstown scandals.

Briscoe's terms as governor led to a landmark events and achievements, including the most extensive ethics and financial disclosure bill in state history, passage of the Open Meetings and Open Records legislation, and strengthened laws regulating lobbyists.

Briscoe also presided over the first revision of the state's penal code in one hundred years.

Briscoe added $4 billion in new state funds for public education and higher education, increased teacher salaries by the highest percentage in history, and raised salaries for state employees as well.

He expanded services to handicapped Texans by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and established the first toll-free hotline for runaway children.

He appointed a larger number of women and minorities to positions in Texas state government than any previous governor, appointed the first African American members to state boards, and named the first African American district judge.

No new state taxes were passed during Briscoe's terms as governor, making him the first governor since World War II to hold the line on both new state taxes or increasing existing ones.

He was the last Democratic Texan to be re-elected to the Governor's Mansion with his reelection landslide victory in 1974; fellow Democratic governors Mark White and Ann Richards lost their re-election bids respectively, in 1986 and 1994.