| H. Joaquin Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Texas Rangers | |
| Born November 12, 1935 | |
| Place of birth | Anton, Texas, USA |
| Service branch | United States |
| Years of service | 1966 to 1993 |
| Relations | Wife Shirley, two sons |
| Other work | Author, Actor, NRA Board Member |
H. Joaquin Jackson (born November 12, 1935 in Anton, Texas)[1] is a retired Texas Ranger most notable for his appearance on the February 1994 cover of Texas Monthly magazine, after which he became the icon of the modern Texas Rangers. Nick Nolte is said to have modeled his character in the movie Extreme Prejudice on him. But the role that Jackson has always played the best is that of the man who wears the silver badge cut from a Mexican cinco peso coin—a working Texas Ranger.
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Joaquin Jackson was the Ranger who responded when riots threatened, violence erupted, and criminals needed to be brought to justice across a wide swath of the Texas-Mexico border from 1966 to 1993. Defying all stereotypes, he was the one Ranger who ensured a fair election—and an overwhelming win for La Raza Unida party candidates—in Zavala County in 1972.
He followed legendary Ranger Captain Alfred Y. Allee Sr. into a shootout at the Carrizo Springs jail that ended a prison revolt—and left him with nightmares. He captured "The See More Kid," an elusive horse thief and burglar who left clean dishes and swept floors in the houses he robbed. He investigated the 1988 shootings in Big Bend's Colorado Canyon and tried to understand the motives of the Mexican teenagers who terrorized three river rafters and killed one. He even helped train Afghan mujahedin warriors to fight the Soviet Union.
Jackson's tenure in the Texas Rangers began when older Rangers still believed that law need not get in the way of maintaining order, and concluded as younger Rangers were turning to computer technology to help solve crimes. Though he insists, "I am only one Ranger. There was only one story that belonged to me," his story is part of the larger story of the Texas Rangers becoming a modern law enforcement agency that serves all the people of the state. It's a story that's as interesting as any of the legends. And yet, Jackson's story confirms the legends, too.
With just over a hundred Texas Rangers to cover a state with 267,399 square miles (692,560 km2), any one may become the one Ranger who, like Joaquin Jackson in Zavala County in 1972, stops one riot.
Jackson has been in several movies, namely as the character Wes Wheeler in the motion picture The Good Old Boys with Tommy Lee Jones,[2] in a 1997 made-for-TV movie Rough Riders, and in a 1997 TV mini-series, Streets of Laredo based on author Larry McMurtry's book by the same title. Jackson also played the fictional Sheriff Jackson in the 2008 movie Palo Pinto Gold, starring singer Trent Willmon, and appears as Archie in the motion picture Poodle Dog Lounge, released in late 2008.
Jackson retired from the Texas Rangers in 1993. He currently lives in Alpine, Texas with his wife Shirley, where he is the owner and operator of a private investigations firm.[1]
Jackson is currently a member in the NRA Board of Directors. However somewhat contrary to this position, he has stated that he feels assault weapons should be reserved for military and police use and that he is against high capacity magazines. [3]