George Berham Parr
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George Berham Parr | |
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Born | San Diego, Texas, US | March 1, 1901
Died | April 1, 1975 Julian Windmill, 14 miles S.E. of Benavides, Duval County, Texas | (aged 74)
Resting place | Benavides cemetery 27°35′32″N 98°24′44″W / 27.59221°N 98.41209°W |
Monuments | Duval County Museum displays some artifacts from his life[1] |
Other names |
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Education |
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Occupation(s) | Lawyer, rancher, politician |
Known for | Lyndon Johnson's 1948 benefactor |
Political party |
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Opponent | Freedom Party |
Spouse(s) | Thelma Duckworth (m. 1923-divorce, remarried late 1930s, div. 1949) Eva |
Children | two daughters one son |
Parent | Elizabeth Parr (née Allen)
Archie Parr b. Dec. 25, 1860 d. Oct. 18, 1942 |
County Judge of Duval County, Texas | |
In office 1926–? | |
Preceded by | Givens Parr |
Sheriff of Duval County, Texas | |
In office 1954–? | |
Notes | |
George Berham Parr (March 1, 1901 – April 1, 1975) was an American politician, who controlled a Democratic political machine that dominated Duval County, Texas and, to a lesser extent, Jim Wells County. He was known as "The Duke of Duval," like his father before him.
Early life
George Berham Parr was born on March 1, 1901, in San Diego, Texas. His father was Archer "Archie" Parr, a prominent local political boss.
Personal life
Parr was a
In 1923, George Parr married his high school sweetheart, Thelma Duckworth of Corpus Christi. They divorced and remarried, and divorced again in 1949; Parr subsequently married Eva Perez. He had two daughters.[2][6][7]
For a time, Parr and his friends were enthusiastic and accomplished polo players, albeit on cow ponies with western saddles.[1][8]
Parr family machine
The Parr Machine functioned on bribery, graft, and illegal donations.[citation needed] Political support came from the southernmost counties in Texas. The machine could produce large numbers of votes, both legal and illegal, from the impoverished and uneducated working-class Mexican-Americans. As a result, the county saw its largely marginalized but large numbers of native Texan yeoman farmers slowly disappear[citation needed] leaving the county commission to be controlled by the Parr family and its cronies. While the Parr Machine had always asserted undue influence over the county's affairs, it was not until Archer Parr that its leadership felt safely secure to overwhelm the remaining independent white farmers by appealing directly to county's new Mexican-American majority by offering them jobs (and in some cases cash directly from the county coffers) in exchange for political support.[citation needed]
The alliance between the Parr-controlled commission and the Hispanic populace made the county a bastion of Democratic strength.[9] By 1940, the white educated population had been reduced[citation needed] to a tiny minority amongst a large Mexican-American population. Parr garnered popular support with his charisma, his fluency in Spanish, and Robin Hood tendencies with sharing the Duval County and Benavides Independent School District coffers. After Archer's death, George inherited the Parr political machine, and the populace passed on the name, "El Patrón", to him as they did his father.[9]
When George attended the
The discovery of
Parr political crimes
Parr engaged in the graft, bribery and fraud that are often associated with political machines. Along with other large landowners and managers of landed estates owned by prominent Eastern businessmen, Parr helped develop the practice of working illegal aliens and later using them for advancing political interests.[citation needed] More importantly, his own political career included serving as both the Duval County Judge and Sheriff. He also owned the San Diego State Bank, and the famous Dobie Ranch, including the Parr's Los Horcones Ranch. He was also a partner and silent partner of dozens of businesses in South Texas.
He was convicted of
Parr demonstrated his success at political maneuvering by securing the defeat of Richard Kleberg in the 1944 congressional primary, with Major
1948 U.S. Senate election
In 1948 Coke R. Stevenson, Lyndon B. Johnson and others ran in Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate. Stevenson and Johnson advanced to a runoff election. For five days after the runoff, Stevenson appeared to hold a 112-vote lead. Then Jim Wells County amended its return, adding 202 additional votes, 200 of which were for Johnson. Johnson won the nomination by 87 votes, tantamount to election in an era when Republicans were not competitive in the South, and prompting the sobriquet "landslide Lyndon."[7]
Most contemporary observers accept that Parr used his influence to affect the Jim Wells County vote totals in Johnson's favor. One probable motivation was that Parr felt obligated to Johnson, who had helped him obtain the 1946
Another likely motivation to oppose Stevenson was that in 1944, Parr and Judge Raymond of Webb County had asked Stevenson, then the Governor, to appoint E. James Kazen (a Raymond relative) Laredo district attorney. The commander at
Struggles and demise of political machine
In 1950, Parr had become a thorn in the side of
However, political candidates would from time to time make Parr an object of their reforming campaigns. In 1954 Governor Allen Shivers declared war on the Parr Faction and sent down a team of Texas Rangers and state investigators. Parr was charged with embezzlement but beat the case. The Parr Machine maintained control of Duval and Jim Wells counties despite the legal and political backlash.
With the end of the Johnson administration in 1968, Parr lost his primary political protector. Under advice from Johnson and other prominent figures, he relinquished control of his machine to his nephew Archer III, by the early 1970s. The law finally caught up with Parr in 1974 when he was convicted of
George's father Archie Parr founded the Dynasty of Duval County. Archer Parr III (1925–2000), né Archer Weller, Archie's grandson and adopted son, was the third Duke of the Duval County Dynasty. Archer Weller Parr was the county judge from 1959 to 1975; he died November 2, 2000, in Alice, Texas.[8][13]
References
- ^ Corpus Christi Caller Times. Archived from the originalon 2004-10-25. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- ^ Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- TIME. April 14, 1975. Archived from the originalon January 22, 2011. Retrieved 2012-04-12. (subscription required)
- ^ Lynch, p. 35
- ^ Givens, Murphy (August 31, 2011). "Cowboy from Matagorda founded political dynasty". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Retrieved 2013-09-24.
- ^ Lynch p.25
- ^ a b Givens, Murphy (September 7, 2011). "George Parr inherited his father's political dynasty". Corpus Christi Caller Times. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
- ^ LCCN 76-54438. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
- ^ a b Burka, Paul (June 1984). "The Man in the Black Hat, Part One". Texas Monthly. pp. 215–216. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
The Parrs rarely had to resort to stealing elections. For the most part, they produced majorities that would have made Richard Daley envious. The Mexicano underclass, its poll taxes paid by the Parrs, provided the votes, and the Parrs provided for the Mexican underclass. The Parrs ran Duval County the way Robin Hood ran Sherwood Forest. As public officials, they took from the rich — the oil companies and the absentee landowners — through high taxes; as political bosses, they tapped the public treasury to give to the poor. Whenever a Mexicano family needed a little extra money — for a wedding, a funeral, an illness — el patrón was there with a handout. The support the Parrs received on election day was won not by intimidation but by friendship, and the affinity of the Mexicanos for the Parrs went all the way back to the time when Archie was the only Anglo in the county who deigned to learn Spanish. Of course, while the Parrs were dipping into the treasury, they managed to keep something for themselves.
- ^ Lynch, pp. 39-40, 42-47, 51-52
- ^ ISBN 0-394-52835-2.
- ^ "Texas Politician Dead". The New York Times. April 2, 1975. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
Mr. Parr was considered a fugitive after he failed to appear for a hearing yesterday on revocation of his $25,000 appeal bond. He was convicted of tax evasion in March, 1974, for failing to list $287,000 in income between 1966 and 1969. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was free on bond pending appeal.
- ^ Neely, Chris; Schwartz, Jeremy (November 3, 2000). "Ex-political boss Archer Parr is dead". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Archived from the original on 2005-04-21. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
Further reading
- Dallas Morning News, August 18, 19, 20, 1974
- LCCN 95040801.
External links
- George Berham Parr from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Duval County from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Boss Rule from the Handbook of Texas Online