O'Daniel, W. Lee (Wilbert Lee), 1890-1969

Politician and businessman Wilbert Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel (1890-1969) was born in Malta, Ohio, one of two children of William Barnes and Alice Ann (Thompson) O’Daniel. Following his father’s death, shortly after O’Daniel’s birth, his mother remarried and moved the family to Reno County, Kansas. A 1908 graduate of Salt City Business College, O’Daniel became a stenographer and bookkeeper for a flour milling company. In 1917, he married Merle Estella Butcher, with whom he had three children. O’Daniel rose through the ranks of the flour industry, becoming sales manager of the Burrus Mills in Fort Worth, Texas, by 1925.

In charge of the company’s radio advertising, O’Daniel began writing songs for a hired group of musicians, the Light Crust Doughboys, and discussing religion on air. In 1935, he organized his own flour company, Hillbilly Flour. Relying heavily on his radio popularity, O’Daniel drew huge crowds in his 1938 Democratic campaign for governor, posing as a hillbilly and extolling the Ten Commandments, his flour, tax cuts, and industrialization. He easily won the election and another in 1940. His administration’s actions included attacks on organized labor, domination of the University of Texas Board of Regents, and continued radio showmanship. In 1941, O’Daniel won a seat in the United States Senate, barely defeating future president Lyndon Johnson. During his seven-year tenure, he introduced a number of unsuccessful anti-labor bills and was a dedicated supporter of the Republican-Southern Democratic coalition. Retiring to Texas, O’Daniel bought a ranch near Fort Worth and founded an insurance company, returning to politics in unsuccessful runs in the 1956 and 1958 Democratic gubernatorial primaries.

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