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Ma Ferguson dies
On this day in 1961, Ma Ferguson, the first woman governor of Texas,
died of heart failure. Miriam Amanda Ferguson was born in Bell County in
1875. She married James Edward Ferguson in 1899 and served as first lady
of Texas while he was governor from 1915 to 1917. After his impeachment,
Miriam entered the race for the Texas governorship. She won an August
run-off and the November general election, thus becoming the second
woman governor in United States history. Political strife and
controversy characterized her first administration. Mrs. Ferguson
pardoned an average of 100 convicts a month, and she and "Pa" were
accused of accepting bribes. Controversy helped Dan Moody defeat her in
1926. Ma ran again unsuccessfully in 1930, and in 1932 she narrowly won
the Democratic nomination, then defeated the Republican nominee. Her
second term as governor was much less controversial than her first;
nonetheless, the Fergusons temporarily retired from politics in 1934. Ma
Ferguson did declare for governor once again in 1940, alleging that she
could not resist a "popular draft" for the nomination, but failed to
unseat incumbent W. Lee O'Daniel. After her husband's death in 1944,
Miriam Ferguson retired to private life in Austin.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- FERGUSON, MIRIAM AMANDA WALLACE [MA]
- FERGUSON, JAMES EDWARD
- GOVERNOR
- TEXAS IN THE 1920S
- GREAT DEPRESSION
- TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
- PRISON SYSTEM
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- General Custer, once stationed in Texas, meets his Waterloo in Montana (1876)
- Civil War skirmish at Las Rusias (1864)
- Spurs are champions! (1999)
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