W. Lee O'Daniel and the endorsement incident of August 1938: A reassessment |
| |
| Authors: | James T Yauger |
| |
| Institution: | Assistant Professor of Speech , State College of Arkansas , Conway, Arkansas |
| |
| Abstract: | W. Lee O'Daniel, a Fort Worth businessman, on July 23, 1938 was nominated governor of Texas in the state Democratic party's first primary of that year. Two weeks later he broke with Texas political tradition when he endorsed six of the twelve candidates involved in the party's second primary, slated for August 27, 1938. Observers believed that in endorsing the candidates the poltically inexperienced governor‐nominate accidentally had made a serious blunder. To date their assessment has gone unchallenged. This paper examines the endorsement incident in the light of subsequent historical events. Evidence is produced to justify the contention that the act categorized as an accidental blunder was in reality a cunningly contrived, strategically motivated, politically rewarding maneuver or ruse. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
