Miriam A. Ferguson

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Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson (June 13, 1875 – June 25, 1961) became the first female Governor of Texas in 1924.^[1] She was born in Bell County, Texas. Her husband, James Edward Ferguson, was governor from 1915 to 1917, but was impeached and removed from office during his second term. Under terms of the impeachment, he was not allowed to hold state office again.^[2]

After her husband's impeachment, she decided to run as a Democrat. During the campaign she said she would follow the advice of her husband and that Texas would get "two governors for the price of one."^[3] Against what would have seemed insurmountable odds, another Ferguson was elected not only as governor, but the first woman govern of Texas.^[2] She was the second female state governor in the United States. Two weeks before her inauguration, Mrs. Nellie Tayloe Ross was sworn in as governor of Wyoming to finish the expired term of her late husband.^[4]

Ferguson got her nickname "Ma" partly because "M.A." were her initials for Miriam Amanda, and also because it was novelty to have a woman governor at the time. Before her marriage to Jim Ferguson when she was 24, she was educated at Salado College and Baylor Female College.

"Fergusonism," as the Fergusons' brand of populism was called, was still a controversial subject in Texas. As governor, she tackled some of the tougher issues of the day. Though a teetotaler like her husband, she aligned herself with the "wets" in the battle over prohibition and took a firm stand against the Ku Klux Klan. She was a fiscal conservative.^[2]

During her first administration she averaged over 100 pardons a month, and accusations of both bribes and kickbacks overshadowed her term, resulting in unsuccessful attempts to impeach her. This led to her defeat in the primaries of both 1926 and 1930. However, she ran again in 1932. She narrowly won the Democratic nomination and in the election she defeated Republican Orville Burlington as well as incumbent Ross S. Sterling. Her second term as Governor of Texas was less controversial than her first.^[2]

According to rumor, state highway contracts only went to companies that advertised in the Fergusons' newspaper, Ferguson Forum. A House committee investigated the charge but nothing ever came of it.^[2]

In opposition to teaching foreign languages in the state's schools, she was quoted as saying, “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas.”^[5]

Mrs. Ferguson's infamously generous granting of pardons was her way of relieving the overcrowded conditions in Texas prisons. Some said that he pardons were the result of bribes, though that was never proved. Those actions led the Legislature to amend the law so that the Governor cannot unilaterally issue a pardon. Today, the Texas Board of Pardon and Parole must first recommend a pardon (though if the Board recommends a pardon, the Governor can choose not to grant it).

Except for an unsuccessful bid to replace Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel in 1940, the Fergusons remained retired from political life after 1934.

Miriam Ferguson died from congestive heart failure at the age of 86.

Preceded by Pat Morris Neff	Governor of Texas 1925-1927	Succeeded by Dan Moody
Preceded by Ross S. Sterling	Governor of Texas 1933-1935	Succeeded by James V. Allred

[edit] References and Footnotes

^ http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/personality/index.html#MaFerguson
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Coppedge, Clay. "'Ma' elected governor of Texas," Temple Daily Telegram. March 25, 2007.
^ http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/FF/ffe6.html
^ Ferguson and Ross actually both won election on the same day, but Texas inaugurates its Governor after Wyoming does.
^ Cárdenas, José A. All Pianos Have Keys and Other Stories. Intercultural Development Research Association, 1994. [1]