W. V. Howerton, ed., Facts on Ferguson: A Review of the Impeachment and a Reply to Charges Made by Ex-Governor Ferguson (Austin, 1918). Two years later they lost a reelection bid amid new scandals concerning excessive pardons and political patronage abuses. Nine years later, Ferguson died of a stroke. 1. so that gubernatorial elections will not be influenced by a presidential election 2. so that candidates cannot run for governor and a federal office at the same time 3. so that voters will not become overwhelmed by too many candidates in one year 4. because Texas happened to become part of the US during an off-year [5], In 2013, the Texas State Legislature began an impeachment trial for Regent Wallace Hall. Vinson asked what they had done to deserve it and he said, I dont need a reason, Im the governor.. This is not a current story but a faint echo of a notorious event in Texas history, the impeachment of Gov. Millions of Texans have rare diseases. [15][16] No unelected official in Texas has ever been successfully impeached or removed from office. Ferguson convinced his wife to run one more time in 1940. His father died when he was four. Laws governing impeachment in Texas are governed by Article 15 of the Texas Constitution. This might sound like the controversy involving UT System Regent Wallace Hall, an appointee of Gov. Two years later they lost a reelection bid amid new scandals concerning excessive pardons and political patronage abuses. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment in federal cases. Ferguson was removed from office and deemed ineligible to hold any position of honor, trust, or profit under the laws of Texas by the Court of Impeachment by a vote of twenty-five to three. Proclamation of the speaker following the submission of a written petition signed by at least 50 members of the House. Ferguson also ran for President of the United States in the 1920 election as the candidate of the American Party. After he returned to Texas, he studied law in Bell County and was admitted to the bar. Texas History Minute: Jim Ferguson only Texas governor to be impeached, removed By Ken Bridges Jan 30, 2020 0 1 of 2 Gov. Ferguson would often call into question the value of a college diploma, saying it was book learning gone to seed. He said some professors took three years to learn that you couldnt grow wool on an armadillo. His constituency, he claimed, resided where the creeks forked and he felt they were getting short-changed by not getting enough basic education, while the kids at UT were getting too much of it., He said those kids go up to Austin for four years and return home with nothing but a mandolin and liver damage. As my brother Redneck Dave would say, That right there is funny. Ferguson won the nomination by a majority of about 40,000 votes. Five of the articles sustained by the Senate charged Ferguson with the misapplication of public funds, three related to his quarrel with the University, one declared that he had failed properly to respect and enforce the banking laws of the state, and one charged that he had received $156,500 in currency from a source that he refused to reveal. Only two elected officials in the history of Texas have ever been successfully impeached. He had attempted to stack the board of regents with friends who would help fire these professors and staffers, and he had called for the resignation of the universitys president, Robert Vinson. An effort was begun in 2013 to investigate the possibility of impeaching University of Texas Regent Wallace Hall. The prohibitionists held an elimination convention and pledged their support to Thomas H. Ball of Houston. Hilder submitted the report to the legislative committee. His father died when he was 4. When Vinson refused to fire the professors, Ferguson went after the Board of Regents to get them to do his bidding. To impeach, the House simply needs a majority vote on the different charges involved. Ferguson was on the ballot only in Texas, where he received 47,968 votes (9.9 percent of the vote in Texas, 0.2 percent of the vote nationwide). After a trial, the Senate voted him out of office by a vote of 25-3 and banned him from holding any state office. Ferguson then went on a tour of Texas, voicing his disdain for the university and what he called the university crowd in public speeches. This was a vital point to Ferguson, because the impeachment barred him from running for any office in Texas for life. Eight federal judges have been convicted in the Senate and removed from office. While the campaign of 1916 was in progress, the Ferguson administration had been charged with a number of irregularities. The House sent 21 articles of impeachment to the Senate. "Ferguson Impeachment With charges growing against Ferguson, the House of Representatives drew up 21 charges against him and voted to impeach. James Ferguson is the only governor to be impeached and convicted. He lost the 1922 Democratic Primary race for U.S. Senate by a wide margin. But the day before the conviction was certain to come down. The Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and finally convicted the governor on ten . Jim Pa Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. How to vote | Thats how she likes it. James "Pa" Ferguson was the Governor of Texas from 1915 to 1917, when he was impeached and convicted on several charges. [10][11] However, a letter from University chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in February 2014 said that Hall likely requested fewer than 100,000 pages. Animals talk; all you have to do is listen. For Trey and Carol South, love of animals feeds their souls, and clients are assured their pets . As a result of his actions, in 1917, Ferguson became the only Texas governor impeached and removed from office. Apply today! She was reelected in 1932 and served January 17, 1933 January 15, 1935. Ferguson made bond of $13,000 and announced his candidacy for a third term as governor. He entered Salado College, a local preparatory school, at age twelve but was eventually expelled for disobedience. Jim Pa Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. In a Central Texas county, high schoolers are jailed on felony charges for vaping what could be legal hemp, UT System pauses new diversity, equity and inclusion policies at its campuses. (b. James Edward Ferguson, also called Farmer Jim or Pa was born in Bell County in 1871. Ross Phares, The Governors of Texas (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican, 1976). If Hall is impeached, he would bethe third person in Texas history to be in that situation. FERGUSON IMPEACHMENT FERGUSON IMPEACHMENT. The movement to impeach and remove James Ferguson as governor ultimately ended with Ferguson _____. Impeachment is the equivalent of an indictment. Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson (Texas A&M University Press, 2017) Hardcover. This call was of doubtful legality, but Ferguson removed all question by calling the legislature to meet for the purpose of making appropriations for the University of Texas. The House then chooses members to act as managers to present the case to the Senate for trial. State legislature | Ferguson's attack against Mayes resulted in a drive by the legislature to impeach Ferguson. These included misappropriation of state funds, falsification of records, unwarranted interference with the control of the University of Texashe directed the board of regents to fire a leading educator and prominent Democrat, A. Carswell Ellisand refusal to divulge the source of a personal loan of $156,500, a huge sum at the time. The Senate, acting as a court of impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and convicted the governor of 10 of them. Farmer Jim wasnt even much of a farmer, though he owned a few farms and was incredibly loyal to farmers. The veto was retaliation against the university because of its refusal to dismiss certain faculty members whom Ferguson found objectionable, including William Harding Mayes, former Texas Lieutenant Governor and founder and dean of the University of Texas School of Journalism. The issues were prohibition, the tax rate, and certain unpalatable rumors concerning the Ferguson administration. Five concerned the misapplication of public funds, three related to his quarrel with the university, one declared that he had failed properly to respect and enforce the banking laws of the state, and one charged that he had received $156,500 ($2.9 million in todays dollars) from a source he refused to reveal. Jim "Pa" Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. The Legislature then came back into session to consider impeachment, an attempt Ferguson immediately condemned. His wife was defeated for re-election in 1926, following questions of improper use of her pardoning power. The charges of impeachment grew from a controvesy with the University of Texas administration, and resulted in Ferguson being charged with misapplication of public funds among nine other charges. You have permission to edit this article. After 20 days have elapsed from article adoption, if the Governor, Lt. Senators then act as jurors while the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over the proceedings. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. ." A reiteration and compilation of documents created in the House impeachment proceedings. Gould, Lewis L. "The University Becomes Politicized: The War with Jim Ferguson." 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 . Though no Texas official has been impeached and removed from office at the state level since Ferguson, Texas politics has hardly been scandal-free. In 1917, James Ferguson was impeached and removed from office as governor of Texas while under indictment. Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. The fight with the university touched off a massive scandal. The convention did not endorse Ferguson, but the other anti-prohibition candidates withdrew from the race. In sum, his down-home authenticity faded away to reveal a man who was mostly a fraud. At the same time, officials had begun looking into Fergusons finances. The accusations, apparently true, were typical of the corruption, graft, and manipulations of American public life. The prohibitionists passed over their better-known leaders and gave their support to Charles H. Morris of Winnsboro, a political unknown. January 1996 in Austin, Texas), first black southern woman in the United States Congress. [6] They had two daughters: Ouida Wallace Ferguson, and Dorrace Watt Ferguson. He was re-elected in 1916. The vote was 25-3. ii) During the period between World Wars I and II, James and Miriam Ferguson were the most powerful couple in Texas. In 1913, William Sulzer was impeached and removed from office as governor of New York. [1] Impeachments in Texas begin in the Texas House of Representatives which must cast a majority vote in favor of impeachment. [8], Prior to his inauguration, Ferguson conferred with officials at the University of Texas regarding appointments affecting learning and higher education. This led to a special session being called by the Legislature, to press for Fergusons impeachment. Kay Reed Arnold then follows the Ferguson story into the halls of academia at the University of Texaswhich Ferguson threatened to closesparking a fierce response by faculty, alumni, students, and, especially, the Womens Committee for Good Government. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. James Ferguson. Carrillospent three years in a federal penitentiary. The second had to do with his utilization of the Temple Bank he had controlling interest in as his personal slush fund. If the state legislature is not in regular session during the time of impeachment, a special session can be called specifically to handle impeachments. He was an avowed enemy of the KKK, but to hear him talk about black people, youd have thought he had earned his hood. She even used the word Christian in the law, implying that Christian forgiveness was appropriate here. James T. DeShields, They Sat in High Places: The Presidents and Governors of Texas (San Antonio: Naylor, 1940). 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