W. Lee O'Daniel
Wilbert Lee O'Daniel ( born March 11, 1890 in Malta, Morgan County, Ohio; † May 11, 1969 in Dallas, Texas ) was an American politician and 1939-1941 Governor of the State of Texas. Between 1941 and 1949 he represented his state in the U.S. Senate.
Early years
After the early death of his father O'Daniel moved with his mother and stepfather in the Reno County, Kansas. There, the family managed a farm, while the young Wilbert attended local schools. He then completed until 1908, the Salt City Business College in Hutchinson. At the age of 18, he was hired as a bookkeeper and stenographer in a mill operating in Anthony. Later he joined the company, and finally even a mill operation. In 1919 he moved to Kansas City in 1921 to New Orleans, in 1925 before he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he was sales manager of the Burrus Mills. For this company he took over in 1928, the radio advertising. On the radio, he also participated in religious discussions and composed songs. Between 1933 and 1934, O'Daniel was also president of the Chamber of Commerce of Fort Worth.
Governor of Texas
He was known for his radio appearances, he was elected governor of Texas in 1938 with virtually no political experience as a candidate of the Democratic Party. O'Daniel took up his new post on 17 January 1939 and was re-elected in 1940. He wanted the so-called "Poll tax laws " ties that bound the right to vote to a particular asset cancel. At the same time he wanted to increase pensions in Texas. Both projects were unable to prevail politically. A similar thing happened to him with many other projects. Its failure was partly due to his political inexperience in dealing with the legislature. He appealed against many legislative proposals whose meaning he did not understand his veto. His political failure, he could gloss over a long time by his skillful radio broadcasts.
U.S. Senator
After O'Daniel had been elected to succeed the late U.S. Senator Morris Sheppard, he resigned as governor on August 4, 1941. In this election, he was able to prevail against Lyndon B. Johnson. In the Senate, he solved Andrew Jackson Houston from the son of Samuel Houston, who had taken over the office of the Senator from Sheppard to the election and was in the meantime died at the age of 87 years. In 1942, O'Daniel was confirmed in the regular elections. So that he could exercise this mandate between 4 August 1941 and 3 January 1949. In 1944 he joined unsuccessfully against a fresh presidential candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1948 was the approval of its passive policy in the Senate only 7%. He then opted not to run again.
Further CV
In the years 1956 and 1958 O'Daniel went to in the gubernatorial primaries of his party, but missed each nomination. He was against racial integration in schools and designated appropriate judgments as "communist -inspired conspiracies ". Wilbert Lee O'Daniel died in May 1969 in Dallas. He was married since 1917 with Merle Estella Butcher, with whom he had three children.
Trivia
The film character Pappy O'Daniel in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? is loosely based on W. Lee O'Daniel and was transferred from the State of Texas to Mississippi.
O'Daniel did Lyndon B. Johnson, the only defeat of his political career at.