In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. 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 politician.
Jessica Brannon-Wranosky and Bruce A. Glasrud have brought together top scholars to shine a light on this unique chapter in Texas history. An overview by John R. Lundberg offers a comprehensive survey of the impeachment process. Kay Reed Arnold then follows the Ferguson story into the halls of academia at the University of Texas—which Ferguson threatened to close—sparking a fierce response by faculty, alumni, students, and, especially, the Women’s Committee for Good Government. Rachel M. Gunter further places the Ferguson impeachment in the context of the suffrage movement. Leah LaGrone Ochoa then explores Ferguson’s hot-and-cold relationship with the Texas press, and Mark Stanley examines the impact of the impeachment on Texas politics in the decades that followed. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky concludes with an assessment of the historical memory of Ferguson's impeachment throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson reveals how power ebbed and flowed in twentieth-century Texas and includes several annotated primary documents critical to understanding the Ferguson impeachment.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Introduction: James Edward "Farmer Jim" Ferguson's Impeachment and Its Ramifications |
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1 | (12) |
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Chapter 1 The Great Texas "Bear Fight": Progressivism and the Impeachment of James E. Ferguson |
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13 | (40) |
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Chapter 2 "Think of the Lives That Might Be Saved": James Ferguson, Women's War Work, and the University of Texas |
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53 | (32) |
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Chapter 3 "Without Us, It Is Ferguson with a Plurality": Woman Suffrage and Anti-Ferguson Politics |
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85 | (25) |
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Chapter 4 In the Public Eye: Texas Governor James Ferguson's Fight with the Press |
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110 | (25) |
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Chapter 5 Fergusonism, Factionalization, and Thirty Years of Texas Politics |
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135 | (23) |
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Chapter 6 The Texas Governor's Impeachment in Historical Memory |
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158 | (10) |
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Document 1 Ferguson's Texas Farm Tenant Law |
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168 | (7) |
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Katherine Kuehler Walters |
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Document 2 Minnie Fisher Cunningham to Carrie Chapman Catt Letter |
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175 | (4) |
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Document 3 Pat M. Neff to William Pettus Hobby Letter |
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179 | (6) |
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Ferguson's Impeachment: A Selected Bibliography |
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185 | (6) |
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| Index |
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191 | |
Jessica Brannon-Wranosky is associate professor of history at Texas A&M UniversityCommerce. Her most recent publications include contributions to Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives and Discovering Texas History.
Bruce A. Glasrud is professor emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay, and retired dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Sul Ross State University. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of more than two dozen books, most recently Anti-Black Violence in Twentieth-Century Texas.
