Miriam A. Ferguson

Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson (born June 13, 1875 in Bell County , Texas , † June 25, 1961 in Austin , Texas) was an American politician and between 1925 and 1935 twice governor of the state of Texas.

Early years

Miriam Ferguson was born as Miriam Amanda Wallace. She attended Salado College and then Baylor Female College in Belton . In 1899, she married James E. Ferguson , who was to become governor of Texas between 1915 and 1917 and who resigned from office in the summer of 1917 shortly before certain impeachment for embezzlement and fraud. Until then, his wife had hardly appeared politically. In 1924, she ran for the Democratic Party in place of her husband for governor of Texas.

Texas Governor

After winning the election, Ferguson took up her new office on January 20, 1925. She was the first woman in the history of the State of Texas to hold this position and the second woman governor in United States history after Nellie Tayloe Ross . This had been introduced into the office of governor of Wyoming just two weeks earlier . As governor, Miriam Ferguson fought the Ku Klux Klan and Prohibition . However, it had to respect the corresponding ban at the federal level. A mask ban against the Klan was lifted by the state courts. Her term of office was marked by a large number of pardons. The average was around 100 per month. In this context, and also with the award of contracts, rumors of bribery came into circulation, but they could not be proven. However, some members of the Highway Commission had to resign for accepting bribes. In the background, her husband continued to play an important role in her government.

One of Miriam Ferguson's goals was to wash her husband clean of the allegations brought against him in 1917. But she was unsuccessful in this. In 1926 she was not re-elected and therefore resigned from the office of governor on January 18, 1927. After her husband missed his party's nomination again in 1930, Miriam Ferguson had himself run for the primaries instead. But she was defeated by Ross S. Sterling . Two years later, however, she managed to win the nomination for a second term. After she had won the actual elections, she was able to reign as governor between January 17, 1933 and January 15, 1935. These years were overshadowed by the global economic crisis, which was gradually overcome with the help of the New Deal policy of the federal government. Domestically, her second term in office was quieter than the first. She continued her pardon policy and rumors of irregularities also resurfaced, but this did not trigger a major wave of protests, as it did during her first term in office.

Another résumé

In 1936 and 1938, Ferguson did not run for gubernatorial elections. In 1940 she applied again unsuccessfully for this office. After the death of her husband in 1944, she withdrew from politics. She died in Austin in 1961 and was buried at her husband's side. The couple had two children.

literature

Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport, 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Ferguson, Miriam A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Ma Ferguson; Ferguson, Miriam Amanda (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	June 13, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bell County , Texas
DATE OF DEATH	June 25, 1961
Place of death	Austin , Texas