The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953 Page: 150
641 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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'ook Reviews
RUDOLPH L. BIESELE, Editor
Texas Politics, zgo6-z944. By Seth Shepard McKay. Lubbock,
Texas (Texas Tech Press), 1952. Pp. v+486.
This book began as a study of the political attitudes and
influences of the German element in Texas, being confined to
the ten counties having a predominantly German population.
After completion of the first chapter it was found necessary to
extend the study on substantially the same scale to the other
counties, comparing the politics of the German counties with
that of the others. The Primary Law, which took nominations
from state conventions and vested them in popular vote, fur-
nished the starting point of the book by providing material of
a more or less statistical basis.
The study confines itself principally to campaigns for governor,
President, and United States senator; with personalities of can-
didates and leaders; with issues and, briefly, with arguments of
the campaigns. During the first decade of the period the author
finds the contest centering around "Baileyism" and Prohibition;
from around 1912 to 1935 the Fergusons and "Fergusonism" gave
a sort of disruptive coherence to politics. Dominant candidates
and gubernatorial champions of this period, besides James E.
and Miriam A. Ferguson, were William P. Hobby, Dan Moody,
and Ross S. Sterling. After 1933 the book summarizes the growing
sentiment against the New Deal and the maneuverings of New
Dealers and Texas Regulars. Legislative programs and accom-
plishments are mentioned but not analysed in detail. The Col-
quitt and O'Daniel campaigns receive due emphasis, and the
final chapter is a well-organized story of Anti-Roosevelt-Anti-
New Deal-Texas Regulars movements. As to German politics,
the voters become progressively less differentiated from the pre-
vailing sentiment in other sections of the state.
The book is notably objective and factual, giving no indication
of the personal or political leanings of the author. It is author-
itatively documented with references to Texas newspapers and is
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 56, July 1952 - April, 1953, periodical, 1953; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101145/m1/170/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.