Price Daniel

Price Daniel
Price Daniel as a United States Senator.
Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court
In office January 1971 – December 1978
National Security Council
In office January 1967 – December 1969
Dir Office of Emergency Preparedness
In office January 1967 – December 1969
Assistant to the President for Federal-State Relations
In office January 1967 – December 1969
38th Governor of Texas
In office January 15, 1957 – January 15, 1963
Lieutenant	Ben Ramsey Vacant
Preceded by	Allan Shivers
Succeeded by	John Connally
United States Senator from Texas
In office January 3, 1953 – January 14, 1957
Preceded by	Tom Connally
Succeeded by	William A. Blakley
Texas Attorney General
In office January, 1947 – January, 1953
Preceded by	Grover Sellers
Succeeded by	John Ben Shepperd
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
In office 1943–1945
Governor	Coke Stevenson
Preceded by	Homer Lakerby Leonard
Succeeded by	Claud Henry Gilmer
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 14
In office January 10, 1939 - January 9, 1945
Preceded by	Alfred Roark
Succeeded by	David Read
Personal details
Born	October 10, 1910 Dayton, Texas
Died	August 25, 1988 (aged 77) Liberty County, Texas
Resting place	Daniel Family Cemetery Liberty, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Jean Houston Baldwin Daniel
Children	Price Daniel, Jr. Jean Houston Daniel Murph Houston Lee Daniel John Baldwin Daniel
Alma mater	Baylor University
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Baptist
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army  United States Marine Corps
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Battles/wars	World War II

Price Daniel, Sr. State Office Building

Marion Price Daniel, Sr. (October 10, 1910 – August 25, 1988), was a Democratic U.S. Senator and the 38th Governor of the state of Texas. He was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be a member of the National Security Council, Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness, and Assistant to the President for Federal-State Relations. Daniel also served as Associate Justice of the Texas Supreme Court.

Early life

Marion Price Daniel Sr (properly Marion Price Daniel II) was born October 10, 1910 in Dayton, Texas, to Marion Price Daniel Sr (1882–1937) and Nannie Blanch Partlow (1886 –1955), in Liberty Texas. He was the eldest child.^[1] Sister Ellen Virginia Daniel was born in 1912, and brother William Partlow Daniel in 1915. As a teenager he was a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He put himself through law school at Baylor University by working as a janitor and dishwasher and by working at the Waco News Tribune.^[2] He received his degree from Baylor in 1932. After graduation he established his own practice in Liberty County and often accepted livestock and acreage for his fees.^[3]

Texas state House of Representatives

In 1938, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives. He was subsequently re-elected twice, serving in the 46th, 47th and 48th legislature from January 10, 1939 until January 9, 1945.^[4] Daniel opposed Texas adopting a sales tax.

Committees served on during the 46th legislature (January 10 – June 21, 1939)^[5]

Judiciary

Oil, Gas and Mining

Privileges, Suffrage and Elections (Vice Chair)

Public Lands and Buildings

Committees served on during the 47th legislature (January 14 – July 3, 1941 and September 9–19, 1941)^[5]

Judiciary

Privileges, Suffrage and Elections

Public Lands and Buildings (Vice Chair)

Revenue and Taxation

He was elected Speaker of the House for the 48th legislature (January 12 – May 11, 1943).^[2][5]

World War II military service

When the legislature adjourned in May 1943, Daniel waived his draft exemption^[6] and enlisted in the United States Army, serving in the Security Intelligence Corps. In this capacity, he saw service in Amarillo, Texas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He received his Second Lieutenant commission in 1944 after training at the Judge Advocate General Officers School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, afterwards becoming an instructor at the Army School for Personnel Services in Lexington, Virginia. The Army shared Daniel with the United States Marine Corps in 1945, the latter sending him to Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan to set up a Marine Personnel School. He received "outstanding authority" citations from both branches of service, and was discharged in May, 1946.

Texas Attorney General

Price returned to Texas after his military service and won the seat of ^[7]Attorney General.

As Texas State Attorney General, he argued the 1946 submerged lands ownership lawsuit United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19^[8] before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1947, on behalf of the coastal states. The Supreme Court decided against California on June 23, 1947.

Daniel defended the University of Texas law school in the 1950 Sweatt v. Painter^[9] desegregation case. Herman Marion Sweatt, a black student, was denied admission to the University of Texas Law School in February 1946. Sweatt had met all the requirements, except that Texas schools were segregated by law. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in June, 1950, Sweatt must be allowed admission.

United States Senate

In 1952, Daniel was elected to the United States Senate. He was immediately taken under the wing of Senate Minority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson,^[6] with the senior Senator helping to alleviate office space shortage by allowing Daniel's staff to work out of LBJ's office.

Daniel held positions on committees^[6] of the Interior; Interstate and Foreign Commerce; Post Office and Civil Service; and Judiciary, as well as Judiciary subcommittees on Internal Security and Juvenile Delinquency.

The new Senator worked on a narcotics probe and reforming the electoral college

Opposed to desegregation efforts, Senator Price Daniel joined 19 other Senators and 77 members of the United States House of Representatives in signing the 1956 Southern Manifesto,^[10] which condemned the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education,^[11] and encouraged states to resist implementing it. The Supreme Court's 1958 Cooper v. Aaron^[12] decision held that the states were bound to uphold the previous decision on desegregation.

Tidelands and 1952 elections

The most long-lasting accomplishment^[13] of Price Daniel was in helping to retain Texas title to the submerged lands, and mineral rights therein, off the coast. The victory has netted billions of dollars for Texas schools. Texas viewed this issue as of primary importance during the 1952 campaign. Eisenhower supported state ownership, while Adlai Stevenson stood in opposition. The state of Texas, including many prominent state Democratic party leaders, went with Eisenhower who won the state of Texas^[14] in the election.

The Tidelands^[15] controversy was over who owned the rights to 2,440,650 acres (9,877.0 km²) of submerged land in the Gulf of Mexico between low tide and the state's Gulfward boundary three leagues (10.35 miles) from shore. Texas acquired the rights as a republic, and later reserved the rights when it entered the Union in 1845. The Texas legislature authorized the School Land Board to execute the mineral leases on behalf of the Permanent School Fund.

Among coastal states, the Federal government claimed ownership when oil was discovered on the lands.^[15] The first lawsuit, United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19,^[8] was filed by the Federal government against California in 1946. The attorneys general of all other states filed an amicus curiae brief in opposition. Price Daniel Sr., as Texas State Attorney General, argued the case before the Supreme Court of the United States on March 13–14, 1947, on behalf of all the other states. In 1947, the Supreme Court decided against California on June 23, 1947.

Congress presented a 1952 bill confirming states' ownership, which was vetoed by President Harry Truman.^[16] In that same year, Presidential candidate General Dwight D. Eisenhower stated his belief that the Annexation Agreement of Texas gave the rights to Texas. Candidate Adlai Stevenson announced he would veto any bill out of Congress guaranteeing the rights to Texas. The Texas state Democratic convention passed a resolution urging all its members to vote for Eisenhower.

In 1953, then Senator Price Daniel ^[17] was one of 35 co-sponsors to the Florida Senator Spessard Holland-authored Senate Joint Resolution 13 restoring the right of the submerged lands to the coastal states.^[6] Price Daniel, Lyndon Johnson, Spessard Holland and Senate Majority Leader Robert A. Taft worked tirelessly to overcome the 27-day filibuster of the bill, with it passing the Senate 56-35 votes, and approved by the House of Representatives on May 13. President Eisenhower signed the bill into law on May 22, 1953.

Governor

Then U.S. Senator Daniel was elected governor in 1956. Thereafter, Daniel's chief intraparty rival Ralph Yarborough went on to succeed Daniel (after a temporary appointee, William A. Blakley of Dallas) in the Senate in a special election held in 1957. Also in the 1956 Democratic primary was a flamboyant former Republican, the historian J. Evetts Haley, who pledged to support segregation, remove price controls from natural gas, and halt the activities of South Texas political boss George Parr of Duval County. Haley returned to the Republican Party in 1964.

As Governor, Daniel saw legislative fruition of his proposals to reorganize of the State Board of Insurance,^[6] passage of an ethics code for lawmakers and other state employees, regulation of lobbyists, an improved structure for state archives, and a long-range water conservation plan.

Daniel was reelected governor in 1958 and 1960. In 1960, Daniel won renomination over Jack Cox, an oil equipment executive from Houston. Daniel then prevailed in the general election by a much larger margin than that obtained by John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees. Daniel received 1,637,755 votes (72.8 percent) to Republican William M. Steger of Tyler, who obtained 612,963 ballots (27.2 percent). Yet Kennedy and Johnson barely won the Texas electoral votes over Richard M. Nixon.

In 1961, the legislature passed a 2-cent sales tax,^[18] which Daniel allowed to become law without his signature^[19] so the state would remain solvent. After the passage of the sales tax, Daniel's popularity waned, and he failed at his attempt to be elected to a fourth term in 1962. He lost the Democratic nomination to former Navy Secretary John B. Connally, Jr. Other 1962 Democratic candidates included highway commissioner Marshall Formby of Plainview, state Attorney General Will Wilson, a future Republican convert, and Major General Edwin A. Walker, who made anticommunism the centerpiece of his campaign. Connally's most formidable primary opponent was Don Yarborough, a liberal integrationist lawyer from Houston who won 49% of the vote in the Democratic run-off. Connally went on to defeat Jack Cox, who had switched to Republican affiliation, to claim the right to succeed Daniel as governor.

Public service in later years

President Johnson later appointed Daniel to head the Office of Emergency Preparedness. In 1971, Governor Preston Smith named Daniel to the 9-member Texas Supreme Court, filling a vacancy left by the retirement of Clyde E. Smith. He was re-elected twice in 1972 and 1978, and retired at the end of his second term.^[3]

After retiring from the Texas Supreme Court, he served as pro-bono legal council for the Alabama-Coushatta Indians. As their counsel, he was instrumental in the 1965 creation of the Texas Commission for Indian Affairs (TCIA), 59th Legislature, House Bill 1096.^[20] On April 5, 1967, the Texas Legislature passed House Concurrent Resolution No. 83 recognizing Daniel for his contributions to the tribe and to the creation of the TCIA.^[21]

The historian Charles Waite of the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg describes Daniel, particularly in regard to his early years in politics, as a "southern business progressive who promoted efficiency in government in regard to roads, schools, and agriculture." Though he stood with Franklin D. Roosevelt, who swept Texas on four occasions, Daniel was skeptical of the growing federal bureaucracy and generally opposed tax increases to pay for added costs of government.^[22]

Personal life

Marion Price Daniel Sr. is also known as Marion Price Daniel Jr. and as Marion Price Daniel II, because his father Marion Price Daniel Sr (1882–1937) was the first generation with the name. Daniel II married Jean Houston Baldwin on June 28, 1940. Their son publicly known as Marion Price Daniel Jr. is properly Marion Price Daniel, III. The couple also had three other children: Jean Houston Murph, Houston Lee, and John Baldwin.

Jean Houston Baldwin Daniel was a descendant of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, through the Houstons' daughter Nannie Elizabeth. Nannie married Joseph Clay Stiles Morrow.^[23] Their daughter Margaret Houston Morrow was in attendance and introduced as "Mrs. Robert A. John" during Price Daniel's election as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.^[2][24] Margaret and Robert's daughter Jean Houston John married Franklin T. Baldwin, and they were the parents of Jean Houston Baldwin Daniel.^[25]

Governor Daniel died of a stroke August 25, 1988. He is buried at the family ranch in Liberty County.^[26] His wife died December 14, 2002 and is buried with him.^[27] Price III died in 1981 and is also buried in the family cemetery.^[28]

Legacy

• Price Daniel Sr. State Office Building, Austin, is part of the Texas State Capitol Complex^[29][30]
• Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award, Baylor Alumni Association^[31]

Jean and Price Daniel Home and Archives

The Jean and Price Daniel Home and Archives ^[32] came under full ownership of the State of Texas in October 1998. Governor and Mrs. Daniel began construction on the Greek Revival style 7,318-square-foot (679.9 m²) Liberty, Texas house in 1982, with an official opening in 1984. It was patterned after the Governor's Mansion in Austin designed by architect Abner Cook. The Daniels donated the home and 10 acres (40,000 m²) of land, reserving a lifetime interest, to the Texas State Library Archives. The home is the repository of the library, archives, furniture, and mementos that document the Daniels' lives and years of public service.

The Price Daniel House, maintained and funded by the Atascosito Historical Society, is located on the grounds of the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, a part of the Archives and Information Services Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Located 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Liberty on FM 1011, the Center is open Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM and Saturday 9 AM to 4 PM. Free admission.Tours are available by appointment; group tours must be arranged two weeks in advance.

Organization memberships

Price Daniel was a member^[33] of the following organizations:

• American Legion
• Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
• Freemasons
• Pi Kappa Delta
• Rotary International
• Shriners
• Sigma Delta Chi
• Woodmen of the World
• Veterans of Foreign Wars

References

1. "Daniel Ancestors" (PDF). Family Tree Maker. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
2. "Election of Speaker" (PDF). Texas House Journal. 12 January 1943.
3. "Marion Price Daniel Sr.". Justices of Texas 1836–1988. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
4. "Price Daniel, Sr.". Legislative Reference Library of Texas. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
5. "Texas legislative sessions and years". Legislative Reference Library of Texas. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
6. Waite, Charles V. "Price Daniel Dissertation-August 1999" (PDF). Texas Tech University. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
7. "Price Daniel Opinions 1952-1952". Attorney General of Texas. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
8. "United States v. California, 332 U.S. 19 (1947)". Justia.com. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
9. "Sweatt v Painter 1950". Fine Law. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
10. "The Southern Manifesto". Congressional Record, 84th Congress Second Session. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
11. "Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)". FindLaw. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
12. "Cooper v Aaron (1958)". FindLaw. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
13. Decker, James (26 August 2009). "Price Daniel Protects the Tidelands from Federal Control". Republic of Texas News.
14. Leip, David. "1952 Presidential General Election Data". David Leip. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
15. Daniel, Price: Tidelands Controversy from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 31 May 2010. Texas State Historical Association
16. Wyant, William K (1987). Westward in Eden: The Public Lands and the Conservation Movement. University of California Press. pp. 218–234. ISBN 978-0-520-06183-5.
17. Bartley, Ernest (1979). The Tidelands Oil Controversy-The Development of Public Land Law in the United States. Arno Press. ISBN 978-0-405-11368-0.
18. Calvert, Robert S: Texas State Sales Tax from the Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved 2 June 2010. Texas State Historical Association
19. "Legislature OKs Texas Sales Tax". The Milwaukee Journal. 9 August 1961.
20. "Texas Indian Commission: An Inventory of Records at the Texas State Archives, 1957–1989". Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
21. "House Concurrent Resolution No. 83" (PDF). Texas State Legislature. April 5, 1967. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
22. Charles Waite, University of Texas-Pan American, "Price Daniel, Sr.", East Texas Historical Association and West Texas Historical Association, annual meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, February 26, 2010
23. Nannie Elizabeth Houston Morrow at Find a Grave
24. Margaret H. Morrow John at Find a Grave
25. "Sam Houston Descendants". Sam Houston State University. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
26. Navarez, Alfonso A (August 26, 1988). "Ex-Senator Price Daniel, 77, Dies; Was Texas Governor for 3 Terms". New York Times. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
27. "Jean Daniel". Ancestry. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
28. "Daniel Family Cemetery". FindAGrave. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
29. "Texas State Capitol Complex". Emporis.com. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
30. "Price Daniel Sr. State Office Building". Emporis.com. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
31. "Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award". Baylor Alumni Association. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
32. "Jean and Price Daniel Home and Archives". Sam Houston Center, TSL Archives. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
33. Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "Marion Price Daniel". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 19 June 2010.

Further reading

• McQueary, Carl (2003). Dining at the Governor's Mansion. TAMU Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-254-6.
• Murph, Dan (2002). Texas Giant: The Life of Price Daniel. Eakin Press. ISBN 978-1-57168-571-1.
• Daniel, Price; Daniel, Jean Houston; Blodgett, Dorothy (1984). Texas Governor's Mansion. Texas State Library and Archives Commission. ISBN 978-0-938368-01-4.

External links

• The Jean and Price Daniel House and Archives
• Marion Price Daniel, Sr. from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Historic photographs of Price Daniel, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
• Governor's Message to the 56th legislature., hosted by the Portal to Texas History
• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with Price Daniel (February 4, 1952)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive

• United States Congress. "Price Daniel (id: D000036)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.