Ann Richards

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Dorothy Ann Willis Richards (September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006), an American politician and Texas's 45th Governor (1991–95).

When she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention as a Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer.

Richards was Texas' second female governor (the first being Miriam A. Ferguson) and was known in the media for her outspoken feminism and her one-liners.

In 1976, she was elected to the Travis County Commissioners' Court and in 1983, she became Texas State Treasurer.

Walter Mondale's nominating address at the 1984 Democratic National Convention and the 1988 Democratic National Convention keynote address were given. Richards won the 1990 Texas gubernatorial race, defeating Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox in a Democratic primary run-off election and businessman Clayton Williams in the general election.

George W. Bush's 1994 Texas gubernatorial election disqualified her.

She remained a public figure until her death in 2006. Richards is the last Democrat to serve as Governor of Texas to date.

Early life

Richards was born in Lakeview (now part of Lacy Lakeview) in McLennan County, Texas, and the sole child of Robert Cecil Willis and Mildred Iona Warren. She grew up in Waco, attended Girls State, and graduated from Waco High School in 1950. She earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor University as a member of a debate team scholarship. After marrying high school sweetheart David "Dave" Richards, she moved to Austin, Texas, where she earned her teaching certificate from the University of Texas. Cecile, Daniel, Clarke, and Ellen were among David and Ann Richards' four children: Cecile, Daniel, Clarke, and Ellen. Gary Tinterow, her first cousin, was once disinherited, was the art historian.

Richards taught sociology and history at Fulmore Junior High School (renamed Lively Middle School) in Austin from 1955 to 1956. She lobbied for Texas liberals and progressives, including Henry B. Gonzalez, Ralph Yarborough, and prospective U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes.

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Political career

Richards was a good political worker by the 1970s, having served to elect Democrats Sarah Weddington and Wilhelmina Delco to the Texas Legislature, and having hosted training sessions around the state on campaigning techniques for women candidates and managers. She favoured the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution while presenting the amendment to the National Women's Conference, which took place in Houston in 1978, but it was not accepted by enough states to become part of the Constitution.

Richards ran against and defeated a three-term incumbent on the four-member Travis County Commissioners' Court in 1976; she won 81.4 percent of the election against Libertarian opponent Laurel Freeman in 1980. Her marriage came to an end during this time. Richards' drinking became more prominent, and she began and ended treatment for alcoholism in 1980.

Richards received the Democratic nomination for the position after incumbent Texas State Treasurer Warren G. Harding (no connection to the US president) became mired in legal difficulties in 1982. Richards became the first woman elected to statewide office in more than 50 years this year after winning over against a Republican foe. She was re-elected treasurer without opposition in 1986. Richards, a well-known and tenacious treasurer, was a Texas state treasurer who sought to maximize the return on Texas state investment returns. Richards said that when she took office, the Treasury Department was run like a 1930s country bank with deposits that didn't indicate interest. Richards gave one of the nomination speeches for candidate Walter Mondale at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and she ran for the Mondale/Ferraro ticket in Texas, despite the fact that President Ronald Reagan enjoyed so much clout in her state.

Richards' keynote address to the 1988 Democratic National Convention placed her in the national spotlight. The speech was highly critical of the Reagan administration and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. "I'm delighted to be here with you tonight because after listening to George Bush all these years, I can't help it." "He was born with a silver foot in his mouth," "two women in 160 years are about par for the course." But we will do well if we give us a chance. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did. "When we pay billions for planes that won't fly, billions for tanks that won't fire, and billions for devices that won't work will not work," the old dog will not hunt. And, if you don't have to be from Waco, you will know that when the Pentagon makes crooks rich and doesn't make America strong, it's not a bum deal." Rhetorical scholars have characterized Richards' convention address as a historically significant address. The address set the tone for her political career. Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places, 1989, with co-author Peter Knobler.

Bill Clements, Texas' Republican governor, declined to run for re-election to a third non-consecutive term in 1990. Richards portrayed herself as a thoughtful progressive and received the Democratic presidential nomination against Attorney General (and former US Representative) Jim Mattox of Dallas and former Governor Mark White of Houston. Mattox ran a scathing campaign against Richards, accusing her of having heroin use other than alcoholism. Clayton Williams, a colorful and eccentric multi-millionaire rancher from Fort Stockton and Midland, has been nominated by the Republicans for his colorful and eccentric multi-millionaire rancher. Susan Weddington, a Williams supporter, delivered a black wreath with the words "Death to the Family" at Richards' campaign headquarters in Austin. Richards barely won by a margin of 49–47 percent after a string of memorable gaffes by Williams (most notably a joke about rape). Jeff Daiell, the Libertarian Party candidate, raked out 3.3 percent in a campaign that featured television advertisements and hefty personal campaigning. Richards was inaugurated governor in January.

Richards is the first woman to hold Texas's highest office, although she was officially recognized as the first woman elected governor of Texas in her own right, after twice-elected Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, her husband's uncle, was often portrayed as a substitute for impeached governor James E. "Pa" Ferguson.

Texas's economy had been in decline since the mid-1980s, which was exacerbated by a downturn in the US economy. Richards responded with a program of economic revival, yielding rise in 1991 of 2 percent, when the US economy as a whole shrank. Richards attempted to modernize Texas's regulatory and regulatory agencies for both industry and the public; her attempts in the former sought to improve Texas's corporate infrastructure for the state's explosive economic growth later this decade, but her reports on the state bureaucracy revealed $600 million.

Richards, the governor, reformed the Texas prison system, establishing a substance abuse program for prisoners, reducing the number of violent offenders released, and increasing prison space to deal with a growing prison population (from less than 60,000 in 1992 to more than 80,000 in 1994). In the state, she favors laws to minimize the selling of semi-automatic weapons and "cop-killer" bullets.

She signed the Texas Financial Responsibility Act, where renewal of a motor vehicle's registration (also covers initial registration of a motor vehicle), safety inspection sticker, driver's license, and/or getting new license plates must be present. The law, which went into operation on September 1, 1991, extends the 1982 statute in which a police officer will require a driver's license and proof of insurance during a traffic stop.

She promoted then State Representative Lena Guerrero of Austin to a Texas Railroad Commission vacancy. The Hispanic Guerrero (1957-2008) was the first non-Anglo to serve on the commission in history. However, she resigned from the service and was defeated by Republican Barry Williamson in the 1992 general election due to her resume's falsification.

During her reign as governorship, the Texas Lottery was also established—advocated as a way of supplementing school budgets; Richards purchased the first lottery ticket in Oak Hill, near Austin, on May 29, 1992.

School finance remained one of Richards' most prominent issues, as well as those succeeding her; the controversial Robin Hood scheme was introduced in the 1992--1993 biennium, aiming to make school funding more equitable across school districts. Richards also attempted to centralize education policy to districts and individual campuses; to this end, she introduced "site-based management."

Richards signed the amended Texas Penal Code in 1993, which included anti-homosexual Section 21.06, as the state's "Homosexual Conduct" statute states: "A" a person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual relations with another individual of the same sex. (b) An offence under this section is a Class C misdemeanor." Richards ran for mayor of Houston in 1990 to abolish the bill. However, Texas' governor, Susan Johnson, sparked same-sex sexual relations as a governor.

Despite outspending the Bush campaign by 23% in 1994, she was defeated by George W. Bush with 50.8 percent of the vote, but Libertarian Keary Ehlers received 0.4 percent. The Richards campaign had hoped for a misstep from the relatively inexperienced Republican nominee, but none appeared, while Richards created several of her own, including calling Bush "some jerk," "shrub," and "that teenage Bush boy."

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