Pat Morris Neff

Pat Morris Neff (* November 26, 1871 in McGregor, Coryell County, Texas, † January 20, 1952 in Waco, Texas ) was an American politician and 1921-1925 Governor of the State of Texas.

Early years and political rise

Pat Neff attended McGregor High School and then to the 1894 Baylor University. He then worked for two years as a teacher in Magnolia, Arkansas, before 1897 at the University of Texas at Austin obtained his law degree and began working in Waco in his new profession. Neff was a member of the then dominant in Texas Democratic Party. Between 1899 and 1905 he was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, where he was president of the House since 1903. From 1906 to 1912 he was district attorney in McLennan County. During this time he got 422 indictments, of which he lost only 16 cases. At the time, he refused an offer twice, Deputy Attorney General of Texas to become.

Governor of Texas

The governor primaries of the year 1920, Neff was able to prevail against the former U.S. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey and win the subsequent election itself. His victory also meant the end of the political influence of Bailey. Pat Neff took up his new post on 18 January 1921 and was able to exercise it after a re-election in 1922 until 20 January 1925. During this time the schools were better off financially supported mainly in rural areas. At that time, the Texas Technonogical College and Texas State Teachers College emerged. The Road Administration ( Highway Commission ) was founded shortly before Neff's tenure was reformed. She took on many tasks in the field of road construction of lower authorities and provided for the expansion of the road network. Neff is also considered the founder of the National Parks in Texas that were financed with money from mineral oil tax. He wrote from a contest to them compose their own official anthem of Texas. Here, the song Texas, our Texas, which then took over the function of the anthem was born.

Twice had to impose martial law by the governor. Once it came to labor unrest in Denison and in the other case to the maintenance of order in Limestone County, where the gambling, bootlegging and prostitution spread as a result of the oil boom. Compared with its predecessors Pat Neff was significantly less pronounced pardons. He fell because of his reluctance to the Ku Klux Klan in the criticism. Moreover, he could not bring the parliamentary hurdles many other planned activities.

Further CV

After the end of his governorship Neff was from 1925 to 1926 Head of a Commission that investigated the educational system of the state. From 1927 to 1929 he was a member of an arbitration court of the Federal Government and from 1929 to 1932 he was a member of the railroad committee of Texas. From 1932 to 1947, Pat Neff president of Baylor University. Then he withdrew into retirement. The ex-governor died in January 1952. Myrtie Mainer with his wife he had a son and a daughter.

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