2016-07-29

Center for Public History, University of Houston; University of Houston Libraries, University of Houston

In this interview, Nancy Beck Young talks with former Texas Governor Mark White on a variety of topics related to his career, as well as state and national politics. He discusses the political shift that occurred in Texas which was once dominated by the Democratic Party. Governor White talks about his tenure as the attorney general of Texas during the first and second governorships of Republican Bill Clements. He discusses how difficult it was to work with Clements and illustrates the bullying tactics Clements and other Republicans used in order to get many elected officials statewide to switch from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. Mark White also talks about the highs and lows of his term as Governor of Texas, including energy policy, compromise, intervention from the federal government, unemployment, education, the influence of oil prices on the Texas economy, the criminal justice system, and many others. He examines two prolific United States Supreme Court cases, Edgewood v. Kirby and Ruiz v. Estelle, and the influences they have had on Texas politics. Governor White also honors the three Texas politicians that have become President of the United States (Lyndon Johnson, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush) by offering his personal take on each of them as politicians and as human beings. The interview concludes with the former governor discussing the changing demographics in the state and potential Democratic Party strategies for responding to this change.

interviews

Politics and government; White, Mark

Houston, Texas

Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

University of Houston Libraries Special Collections

English

Collection
University of Houston Libraries Special Collections
Houston History Archives
Oral Histories from the Houston History Project

Preservation Location: ark:/84475/pm29010q19s