Coke Stevenson, governor of Texas, speaking at Washington-on-the-Brazos, 1946. Prints and Photographs Collection, Coke Stevenson file, The Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin; CN 08123. Governor from 1941 to 1946, the deeply conservative Coke Stevenson supported American entry into World War II and forced state agencies to cut their budgets drastically as a patriotic measure. He feuded with federal bureaucrats, however, over rationing of beef and gasoline.