Ouida Ferguson Nalle, The Fergusons of Texas, or "Two Governors for the Price of One": A Biography of James Edward Ferguson and His Wife (San Antonio: Naylor, 1946). The Constitution gives the House power to impeach the president, officials appointed by the president (including cabinet officers), and judges. Bruce Rutherford, The Impeachment of Jim Ferguson (Austin: Eakin Press, 1983). Impeachment is the power of a legislative body to address charges of impropriety or criminality by a government official, such as a governor or lieutenant governor. Eight federal judges have been convicted in the Senate and removed from office. [18] He added that the investigation was "extraordinary political theater. The Arizona House and Senate impeached Mecham, a Republican, in 1988 after a state grand jury convicted him on six felony charges of fraud, perjury and filing false documents. He had attempted to stack the board of regents with friends who would help fire these professors and staffers, and he had called for the resignation of the universitys president, Robert Vinson. Against a lawsuit filed to prevent the Texas Democratic Party from listing him on the primary ballot, Ferguson argued that his impeachment trial ended without a conviction or judgment because he resigned his office before the Senate decided the case. Two years later they lost a reelection bid amid new scandals concerning excessive pardons and political patronage abuses. But the mere fact that Ferguson had been impeached and made ineligible to hold any office of trust or profit under the state did not in any sense remove him from the field of Texas politics . The controversy grew out of the refusal of the board of regents to remove certain faculty members whom the governor found objectionable. Despite his resignation, the State Senate voted 25-3 to convict, which meant that Ferguson could not seek another public office in Texas. Scandals of all sorts, from the brazen to the bizarre, have occurred for decades at all levels. The chairman of the investigating committee, William H. Bledsoe of Lubbock, called for impeachment. Sam Houston Copyright 2022 Coordinating Council for Women in History. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by his successor and incumbent, William P. Hobby of Houston, previously the lieutenant governor. . And this current flap is far from over. In 1918 he sought the Democratic party nomination for the governorship but was defeated by William P. Hobby. He later ran anyway, claiming that he had resigned before he was convicted. In 1917, James E. Ferguson, nicknamed "Pa Ferguson," was impeached and removed from the governorship of Texas. The prohibitionists held an elimination convention and pledged their support to Thomas H. Ball of Houston. The charges of impeachment grew from a controvesy with the University of Texas administration, and resulted in Ferguson being charged with misapplication of public funds among nine other charges. His father died when he was four. . As a result it was impossible for the convention to eliminate him and obviously unwise to divide the vote by naming a rival candidate. Soon after, the alumni group began taking out ads in newspapers calling for the governors impeachment. In order for an official to be impeached, articles of impeachment must be brought by the Texas House of Representatives. Eight governors have been removed from office through impeachment. Soon the talk of impeachment is echoing through the halls of the Capitol. In 1913, William Sulzer was impeached and removed from office as governor of New York. This call was of doubtful legality, but Ferguson removed all question by calling the legislature to meet for the purpose of making appropriations for the University of Texas. James Edward Ferguson Jr. (August 31, 1871 September 21, 1944), known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th Governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. You have permission to edit this article. When James Ferguson failed to get his name on the ballot in 1924, Miriam entered the race for the Texas governorship. There were two major elements of the impeachment charges brought against Ferguson in 1917. But Ferguson ran for governor in the 1918 Democratic primary. "In light of the fundamental role attorneys play, it would lead to an absurd result were it criminal for an official to provide student records to his or her attorney in the face of litigation, or anticipated litigation, involving these records," Philip Hilder wrote in the report. The legislature passed generous appropriation bills, and the ad valorem tax rate reached the constitutional maximum of thirty-five cents. FERGUSON IMPEACHMENT. In 1920 he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on his own American party ticket. At age 12 he entered Salado College (a preparatory school) but was eventually expelled for disobedience. He started his own newspaper that fall, Ferguson Forum, to promote his views that the impeachment was illegitimate. Public policy. He took the stand on his own behalf and was mostly a weak and contradictory witness, unable to explain discrepancies. He moved to Temple and in 1907 joined with others in establishing the Temple State Bank. Hilder submitted the report to the legislative committee. Impeached provides a new examination of the rise and fall of Ferguson's political fortunes, offering a focused look at how battles over economic class, academic freedom, women's enfranchisement, and concentrated political power came to be directed toward one . He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than two dozen books, most recently Anti-Black Violence in Twentieth-Century Texas. The fight with the university touched off a massive scandal. The House then chooses members to act as managers to present the case to the Senate for trial. "Ferguson Impeachment the lieutenant governor The Texas House of Representatives prepared 21 charges against Ferguson, and, in his impeachment trial, the Texas Senate convicted him on 10 of those charges, including misapplication of public funds and receiving $156,000 from an unnamed source.[12][13]. He was a popular figure, signing laws protecting sharecroppers and providing state funding for rural schools. This is not a current story but a faint echo of a notorious event in Texas history, the impeachment of Gov. Ferguson declared that the legislature constituted little more than a "kangaroo court," but only a few She would serve one more term as governor from 1933 to 1935. [10][11] However, a letter from University chancellor Francisco Cigarroa in February 2014 said that Hall likely requested fewer than 100,000 pages. James Edward (Pa) Ferguson (1871-1944), Texas governor, son of James Edward and Fannie (Fitzpatrick) Ferguson, was born on August 31, 1871, near Salado, Bell County, Texas. Similarly, the Texas Constitution gives the lower house of the legislature power to impeach judges, the governor and statewide elected officials. A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin | Contact us, A service of the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, Despite High-Profile Endorsements, Democrat Eliz Markowitz Loses Houston-Area Special Election. As a result of his actions, in 1917, Ferguson became the only Texas governor impeached and removed from office. Governor and President Pro Tempore have not acted, then by proclamation of a signed majority of the members of the Senate. The impeachment process begins with the House of Representatives. His wife was defeated for re-election in 1926, following questions of improper use of her pardoning power. When the House is not in session, there are three ways that the House may be convened for purposes of impeachment. There are 31 members of the Texas State Senate. Almost a century later, the Ferguson impeachment presents both striking similarities and key differences to the ongoing saga involving University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall. And she won. After he was appointed in 2011, Hall began looking into what he believed to be clout scandals within the University of Texas system. However, the date of retrieval is often important. Seven related to misapplication of public funds, one to embezzlement and one to the diversion of a special fund. Impeachment is the equivalent of an indictment. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. And once again, there is talk of impeachment in the Legislature. That committee has been holding a series of meetings in late 2013. Ma placed a distant fifth. After a trial, the Senate voted him out of office by a vote of 25-3 and banned him from holding any state office. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. [5], In 2013, the Texas State Legislature began an impeachment trial for Regent Wallace Hall. He became a lawyer in 1897, married Miriam A. Wallace in 1899, and expanded into real estate, insurance and banking. U.S. Congress | The colleges were permitted to begin building programs, and the educational appropriation bills were more generous than usual. In July 1917, he was indicted for misappropriation of funds. The Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and finally convicted the governor on ten . Ferguson's attack against Mayes resulted in a drive by the legislature to impeach Ferguson. In 1917, Gov. Hearing the gasps in the chamber, Ferguson immediately asked to strike the comment. Ferguson, had a stormy two-term reign and was impeached in 1917 over charges of misappropriation of funds regarding the University of Texas as well as embezzlement. Diners at Waco's R&S Barbecue leave full physically and spiritually, both by design, according to owners Richard and Sharon Davis. James Ferguson was a banker from Temple who would become governor in 1914 - famous, or infamous, as the only Texas governor to face impeachment. He resigned his office the day before the judgment was announced and contended that it did not apply to him. After an unsuccessful campaign for president in 1920, Ferguson ran the gubernatorial campaign of his wife, Miriam Ma Ferguson, in 1924. The Senate, acting as a court of impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and convicted the governor of 10 of them. In sum, his down-home authenticity faded away to reveal a man who was mostly a fraud. Both women followed husbands who had served earlier. . He was re-elected in 1916. Ferguson was indicted on nine charges in July 1917. January 1996 in Austin, Texas), first black southern woman in the United States Congress. He was impeached in 1917 and removed from office. Ferguson was convinced that Vinson was behind the protest. It proved his undoing. Though no Texas official has been impeached and removed from office at the state level since Ferguson, Texas politics has hardly been scandal-free. The Senate can call witnesses to testify and vote to convict with a two-thirds majority vote. Proclamation of the speaker following the submission of a written petition signed by at least 50 members of the House. Gulf of Mexico warming at faster rate than global ocean, study finds, As Texas STAAR test goes fully online, teachers feel defeated, Texas Education Agency projects confidence, Texas Standard for Feb. 23, 2023: Why many cotton farmers arent planting as much this year. The Texas Senate reduced the charges to 10, half of which dealt with the transfer of the $5,600. Preliminary investigations failed to uncover any charge that would merit impeachment, and for a time the incident seemed closed. Double your gift when you give by 6 p.m. Thursday. Though he had signed legislation creating three new colleges, he found himself in a feud with professors at the University of Texas. The question was eventually carried into the courts, where the judgment of the Court of Impeachment was sustained. At the same time, officials had begun looking into Fergusons finances. He was by this time an old man. But it is Hall not his political patron, Perry who would be targeted for possible impeachment. James Ferguson is the only governor to be impeached and convicted. Ferguson was first elected in 1914, and was reelected in 1916. Even his former political allies couldnt find him innocent in the face of such damning evidence and his own indefensible behavior. (b. You can cancel at any time. The movement to impeach and remove James Ferguson as governor ultimately ended with Ferguson _____. Though he had signed legislation creating three new. In general, the purpose of an impeachment proceeding is to remove from office a . Among the charges was falsifying campaign finance reports to conceal a loan to his campaign of $350,000. He maintained his. On December 31, 1899, he married Miriam A. Wallace; they had two children. Jim "Pa" Ferguson became the first person in Texas to be impeached. . Therefore, its best to use Encyclopedia.com citations as a starting point before checking the style against your school or publications requirements and the most-recent information available at these sites: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. In July 1917, he was indicted for misappropriation of funds. When Vinson refused to fire the professors, Ferguson went after the Board of Regents to get them to do his bidding. He believed that "a Negro has no business whatever taking a part in the political affairs of the Democratic party, the white man's party." Though Fergusons hatred for UT ran deep, he never fully explained his animus. The following sections are outlined in Article 15 of the Texas Constitution. His wife was defeated for re-election in 1926, following questions of improper use of her pardoning power. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment in federal cases. Only two Texas public officials have been impeached in the state's history. Click here to contact our editorial staff, and click here to report an error. James "Pa" Ferguson was the Governor of Texas from 1915 to 1917, when he was impeached and convicted on several charges. 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