Heritage, Volume 9, Number 3, Summer 1991 Page: 14
30 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Miriam A. Ferguson
Texas' First Woman Governor
By Carl R. McQuearyT hirty years after
her death on
June 13, 1961,
the first woman to be
elected governor of the
state of Texas, Governor
Miriam Amanda M
Wallace Ferguson, has
again become of interest to the public.
This renewed popularity, which no doubt
would have pleased Mrs. Ferguson, is due in
part to the election of Governor Ann
Richards, the second woman to hold the
title of chief executive in Texas. Adding to
the spotlight placed on Miriam is an everincreasing
awareness of her importance in
Texas political history. For over twenty-six
years, whether victorious or vanquished,1 A. Ferguson and her cat Teddybear at the Temple home. P
Helen Webster, 1918, courtesy of the Bell County Museumthe colorful Fergusons were a perennial
ingredient in the Texas political stew.
The series of events which led Texas to
a woman governor is a topic on which
historians may continue to debate for many
years to come. A popular version of the
story states that James E. Ferguson-barred
from holding office or running for governor
himself after his impeachment in 1917decided,
while he was sitting on a baggagecart in Lometa, Texas in
1924, that his wife Miriam
should run for that
office.
Ouida Ferguson Nalle,
the eldest daughter of the
dh oto b y
Fergusons, states in her
1946 biography of her
parents, a different account. According to
Mrs. Nalle, she first learned of her father's
intention to enter Miriam's name on the
ticket following a court decision which
forever barred him from seeking public
office in Texas. Ouida hear of the court's
decision and drove to Taylor, Texas where
her father was speaking. She told him the
news and asked him, "What are you going
to do now?" Jim reportedly looked at her14 HERITAGE * SUMMER 1991
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Volume 9, Number 3, Summer 1991, periodical, Summer 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45423/m1/14/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.