Ace McStudent

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Michael Morris, Instructor

Ann Richards Governor of Texas

Introduction

In this biography we are going to discuss the life of one of the most beloved political

figures we had in the state of Texas Ann Richards. She was considered a underdog in running for

governor of Texas partly because she would be only the second ever women that would have

been governor for Texas. In this biography we will be able to discuss the life at the beginning.

Like where she was born, who she married, her days as a teachers, her road to being are governor

all the way to her sad and sudden death in 2006.

Child to Becoming an Adult

Her original name was Dorothy Ann Willis and she was born in Lakeview Texas as an

only child. Her parents were named Robert Cecil and Mildred Iona Warren. Growing up in Waco

Texas she graduated from Waco High School in 1950. “Growing up in Waco she decided to

attend Baylor University from a debate scholarship, this is something that she had a great passion

for growing up. Prior to earning a bachelor's degree she married her high school boyfriend David

Richards and they had four children Cecile, Daniel, Clark, and Ellen. After Graduating from

Baylor she started teaching social studies and history at a school institution called Fulmore

Junior High in Austin Texas from 1955 to 1956” (Gale 198). In 1957 she and her husband moved

to Dallas Texas where her husband David Richard's could join a labor law firm. ." (Sobol 214-

19)
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Her Political Career on her way to Governor of Texas

During the1960, 1970's, and the 1980's she started to become very popular and

accomplished many thing prior to her winning Governor in the year of 1990. Starting in the

1960's she became the President of the North Dallas Democratic Women. She moved back to

Austin in 1969. (Smith) Starting in the 1970's she had established herself as one the best

political workers in which she worked to promote democrats such as Sarah Weddington and

Wihelmina Delco to the Texas Legislature and she also coached other women on how to

campaign in other various political jobs. “Ann Richards was also very big on equal rights; she

was a firm supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment and the ratification of that amendment.

Unfortunately, though that amendment did not receive states to support this to become part of the

constitution. During the 1980's starting in 1982 she achieved the Texas State Treasure. Her win

made her the first women to become elected into state wide office in over 50 years” (Gale 56).

Unfortunately during this time she also had severe tragedy in her life in the early 1980's she had

an addiction to alcohol become well known to the public; however she successfully got treatment

for this illness. Also because of how much time she devoted her life to politics, her and her

husband David Richards separated and later got a divorce in 1984. On a lighter note she was

reelected to Texas State Treasure unopposed in 1986. The reason she became so successful as

The Texas State Treasure is because she did an outstanding job in having Texas maximize their

investments that the state has made. She also became very much in the national spotlight and

received a lot of national attention in 1988 when she made a speech in a democratic national

convention” (Gale 43). In this convention she was said to be very critical of the republicans and
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Michael Morris, Instructor

their political values. Mainly she focused her attention to the Reagan Administration and also

Vice President at the time later to become President George H. Bush” (Gale 35). In this

convention she made some famous quotes like "Poor George, he can't help it he was born with a

silver foot in his mouth" or "... two women in 160 years is about par for the course. But if you

give us a chance, we can perform just. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire

did. She just did it backwards and in high heels. Some of these famous quotes from her speech

made her sitting pretty and propelled her on her way to becoming Governor of Texas" (Sobol

214-19).

Governor of Texas

To be represented as the Democrat running for the Governor of Texas. Ann Richards had to face

some terrible accusations against her by other fellow Democrat James Albon Mattox. He accused

Ann Richards of being addicted to other drugs besides alcohol. This unfortunate slander however

did not prevent Ann Richards from being elected as the Democratic representative running for

Governor. Ann Richards finally became Governor of Texas when she won the 1990

gubernatorial election. The following is the stats of the election in which she won. Democratic

Ann Richards received 49.47 percent of the votes. Republican Clayton Williams received 46.92

percent of the votes. Finally, libertarian Jeff Daiell received only 3.32 percent of the votes.

Because she didn't get over 50 percent of the votes she is to be considered a minority governor.

During her four year term in office Ann Richards did some wonderful and unique things to help

boost the gigantic state of Texas. One thing that was done in her term is that the Texas economy

has been slumping during the mid 1980's. Therefore Governor Ann Richards thought of a

program of economic growth which boosted the economy by 2 percent. That growth really
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Michael Morris, Instructor

doesn't seem like a big growth but realizing the United States economy was doing poor. It was

considered a great achievement by Ann Richards. She also did a great job in establishing a

stricter prison. She kept violent substances abuse offenders in jail so they would not be harmful

to the Texas community. Another thing that she did was signing a Texas Financial Law. What

this financial law would do is force are Texas citizens of renewing their motor vehicle

registration, safety inspection sticker, updating license plate and making sure that every Texas

citizen have an updated and valid auto insurance policy. One other interesting thing that she did

was brought up the Texas Lottery to the state of Texas. She was the first person ever to buy a

lottery ticket. Ann Richards also had a hand in schools as well where she established the "Robin

Hood plan" which spread school funding equally across the state of Texas. Even though she

made some wonderful achievements as Governor of Texas she was defeated by George W. Bush

in the 1994 Governor race. Unfortunately for Ann Richards she spent more money on the

election then George Bush did but her downfall was she used a poor choice of words calling

George Bush a jerk and there was said to be some mudslinging tactics that helped propel George

W. Bush to victory. The final statistics on votes were as following. Democratic Ann Richards

received 46 percent of the votes while Republican George Bush received 53 percent of the

votes." (Sobol 214-19)

Life After Being Governor

After the 1994 election Ann Richards did a few things in teaching at Brandies University.

She also helped support other Democratic Parties but as for herself she didn't get back to running

for politics. She did do some minor things in Television as well. She made a special appearance

on the King of the Hill show and she also did a Doritos commercial. Unfortunately for Ann
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Michael Morris, Instructor

Richards she had been diagnosed with esophagus cancer in March of 2006 which later took her

life on September 13, 2006 at the age of 73" (Sobol 214-19).

Conclusion

As we can see Ann Richards had wonderful yet challenging career and life. We covered

almost everything including her family like her parents, husband, and kids. Also how she

graduated from Baylor. Her teaching career in Dallas, and her road in politics all the way to her

peak as Governor in 1990. Finally, her life after politic and her unfortunate death in 1996. Even

though she lived a controversial life there is one thing that everybody can agree on when it

comes to Ann Richards. She will always be considered a great Texas Governor and leader.
Ace McStudent
Govt. 2306.24241
August 2, 2010
Michael Morris, Instructor

Work Cited

Gale, Thompson. "Ann Richards Governor or Texas." Governing from the Heart. 3rd. 5 vols.
Detroit: Free Press, 2004. Print.

Smith, Joe. "Political Biography Straight from the Heart." Answers.com. Answers, Inc.,
03Aug2010. Web. 21 Aug 2010. <http://www.answers.com>.

Sobol, Richard. Ann Willis Richards Governor. 1st ed. Austin, TX: Sobol Publish Co, 1994. 214-
19. Print.