Ross S. Sterling

Ross Shaw Sterling (born February 11, 1875 in Anahuac , Texas , † March 25, 1949 in Fort Worth , Texas) was an American politician and governor of the state of Texas from 1931 to 1933 .

Early years

Ross Sterling attended public schools in his home country. Until about 1895 he worked as an assistant on farms. He then ran a feed shop from 1903. He then bought a few small banks in the area and got into the banking business. Sterling was also in the oil business from 1903. In 1910 he founded his own oil company, the Humble Oil and Refining Company , of which he became president. In 1918 he also became president of a local railroad company. In 1925 he sold his stake in the oil company and got into the real estate and newspaper business in Houston .

Political Promotion and Governor of Texas

Sterling became a member of the Democratic Party . In 1930 he became chairman of the Highway Commission . In this capacity, he was responsible for the expansion of the highways in Texas. Then he was elected as his party's candidate for governor of his state. Ross Sterling took up his new office on January 20, 1931, in the midst of the great Great Depression . To prevent overproduction of cotton, he intended to reduce the area under cultivation. But that was rejected by a court as not being constitutional. In order to reduce oil production, he imposed martial law on four districts and had the oil wells shut down. That, too, was later rejected as unconstitutional. In 1932 he lost his party's primary election to former governor Miriam A. Ferguson , who was then elected to a second term.

Another résumé

After his governorship ended, Sterling withdrew from politics and re-entered the oil business. He founded the Sterling Oil and Refine Company , of which he was president between 1933 and 1946. He has also served as President of American Maid Flour Mills and the Ross Sterling Investment Company . Ross Sterling was also the chairman of the Houston National Bank . He died in Fort Worth in 1949. He had five children with his wife, Maude Abbie Gage.

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

• Ross S. Sterling in the National Governors Association (English)
• Ross S. Sterling in the Handbook of Texas (English)
• Ross S. Sterling in the database of Find a Grave (English)