Bill Clements
Bill Clements was born in Dallas, Texas, United States on April 13th, 1917 and is the Politician. At the age of 94, Bill Clements biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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William Perry Clements Jr. (April 13, 1917 – May 29, 2011) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician who served two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Texas from 1979 to 1991.
His terms ended Mark Wells White's term, a Democrat who defeated Clements in the 1982 race but then had to drop his campaign for re-election in 1986.
When Clements was first elected governor of Texas after Reconstruction in 1979, he was the first Republican to serve as governor of Texas since Reconstruction.
His eight years in office, as Clements served for good in 1991, were the most served by any Texas governor until Rick Perry surpassed his figure in 2009.
Clements was the first governor to be elected to multiple terms after Texas extended their governor's term of office to four years; since then, Perry and his predecessor, George W. Bush, and his replacement, Greg Abbott, both Republicans, have received multiple terms. Clements made his fortune in crude oil before becoming Governor of Texas and served as Secretary of Defense for President Richard Nixon.
Clements served as Chairman of the Board of Governors at Southern Methodist University, where he presided over a massive pay-to-play scheme that resulted in catastrophic consequences for the team and his political career.
Post-political life
Clements died in Dallas with his second wife, Rita Crocker Bass (October 30, 1931 – January 6, 2018), who was first lady of Texas during both of his terms. Governor George W. Bush then named her to the University of Texas Regents. Clements is best known for his acerbic, energetic personality.
Clements devoted a large personal effort to assist many other Republican candidates running for office in Texas. In 1993, he favoured conservative Senator Joe Barton in the special election for the Senate to replace resigned Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Barton was disqualified after losing to Kay Bailey Hutchison. Clements also endorsed the troubled Texas Supreme Court Justice Steven Wayne Smith, who was defeated by Governor Rick Perry's opposition in the 2004 Republican primary.
Whereas Governor Perry first endorsed former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York City for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Bill Clements was already raising funds for eventual nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is a student at the University of Arizona. Perry joined Clements in endorsing McCain after Giuliani resigned from the race.
Clements' $100 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center in June 2009, the most significant civic contribution in Dallas history. The UT System Board of Regents approved the name of the new UT Southwestern University Hospital in honor of Clements on April 13, 2012. Governor Rick Perry's re-election bid against Kay Bailey Hutchison was supported by Clements and his wife on February 16, 2010. Clements, who later won the Republican nomination that ultimately led to his first term as governor, by defeating Hutchison's husband, Ray, in the 1978 Republican primary.
B. Gill Clements (born 1941), a Clements ancestor, was killed while walking his ranch in Athens, east Texas, at the age of 69. Clements, an investor, was both a graduate of Southern Methodist University, married, and the father of three children. Bill Clements' first wife, Pauline Allen Gill Clements, predeceased him.
Early life and career
Born in Dallas, Texas, Clements graduated from Highland Park High School in the Dallas suburb of University Park in 1934. Although Clements was an all-state offensive guard on the Highland Park football team, after his father lost his job due to the Great Depression, Clements worked as an oil driller in South Texas after graduating from high school. In the late 1930s, Clements studied engineering at Southern Methodist University before returning to the oil industry. During World War II, Clements served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
In 1947, Clements founded the offshore drilling business Southeastern Drilling Company (SEDCO), which would expand to 20 countries and grow into the top drilling contracting company in the world before being sold to Schlumberger in 1984. Clements had a personal wealth worth nearly $30 million by 1978, the year he first ran for Texas governor.
From 1973 to 1977, Clements served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. For 39 days in 1973, Clements served as acting Secretary of Defense.
Among the Secretaries of Defense he served under was Donald Rumsfeld, during the latter's first tenure in the office. The two men did not get along, yet when Rumsfeld was appointed Clements resisted efforts to be moved to another department, even going so far as to threaten if removed from his office to hold a press conference and label his dismissal a "power play." Though Clements remained as deputy secretary, Clements later termed his time under Rumsfeld "very unpleasant."