Pat Morris Neff

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pat Morris Neff signature

Pat Morris Neff (born November 26, 1871 in McGregor , Coryell County , Texas , † January 20, 1952 in Waco , Texas) was an American politician and governor of the state of Texas from 1921 to 1925 .

Early years and political advancement

Pat Neff attended McGregor High School and then Baylor University until 1894 . He then worked for two years as a teacher in Magnolia , Arkansas , before he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1897 and began working in his new profession in Waco. Neff became a member of the Democratic Party, which was then dominant in Texas . Between 1899 and 1905 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Texas , where he was President of the House since 1903. From 1906 to 1912 he was a district attorney in McLennan County . During that time, he brought 422 charges, of which he lost only 16 cases. At the time, he twice turned down offers to become Assistant Attorney General for Texas.

Texas Governor

In the gubernatorial elections of 1920 Neff was able to prevail against the former US Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey and win the actual election that followed. His victory also marked the end of Bailey's political influence. Pat Neff took up his new office on January 18, 1921 and was able to exercise it until January 20, 1925 after re-election in 1922 against the Republican William Hawley Atwell . During this time the schools received better financial support, especially in rural areas. That was when the Texas Technonogical College and the Texas State Teacher College came into being . The Highway Commission , which was founded shortly before Neff's tenure, was reformed. She took over many tasks in the field of road construction from lower authorities and took care of the expansion of the road network. Neff is also considered the founder of the national parks in Texas, which were financed with money from the mineral oil tax. He put out a competition to have an official Texas anthem composed. This resulted in the song Texas, our Texas , which then took on the function of the anthem.

The governor had to declare martial law twice. One was about workers' unrest in Denison and the other was about maintaining order in Limestone County , where the oil boom led to gambling, alcohol smuggling and prostitution. Compared to his predecessors, Pat Neff issued significantly fewer pardons. He came under criticism for his hesitant attitude towards the Ku Klux Klan . In addition, he could not bring many other planned measures over the parliamentary hurdles.

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship, Neff was head of a commission from 1925 to 1926 that examined the state's educational system. From 1927 to 1929 he was a member of a federal arbitration commission and from 1929 to 1932 he was a member of the Texas Railroad Committee . From 1932 to 1947, Pat Neff was the successor to Samuel Palmer Brooks President of Baylor University. After that, he retired. The ex-governor died in January 1952. He and his wife, Myrtie Mainer, had a son and a daughter.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Neff, Pat Morris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH November 26, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH McGregor , Texas
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1952
Place of death Waco , Texas