Daniel, Price.

Price Daniel served as U.S. Senator from Texas from January 3, 1953 to January 15, 1957. He resigned the Senate to take office as Governor of Texas.

Price Daniel's political career spanned more than four decades and included all three branches of state government. Born in 1910 at Dayton, Texas, he was reared in Liberty and Fort Worth. After graduating from high school in Fort Worth, he attended Baylor University where he earned a degree in journalism. The following year, 1932, he received a law degree and returned to Liberty where he opened a law office.

During the next seven years, Price Daniel practiced law and assisted with publishing two local newspapers that he co-owned. In 1939 he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives and became a member of the State Democratic Executive Committee. The following year he married Jean Houston Baldwin and they had four children. After serving three terms in the legislature, he was chosen Speaker of the House in 1943. However, he resigned to enlist in the army as a private, though he soon completed officer candidate school. Stationed in Japan and the Pacific, he attained the rank of captain when he was discharged in May 1946.

Upon his return to Texas, he entered the race for attorney general and won the election. Running unopposed, he was reelected twice. His five years as Attorney General were noted for efforts against organized gambling and for Texas' rights to the Tidelands, the hallmark of his career. Daniel was elected U.S. Senator in 1952, serving as chairman of the senate's judiciary subcommittee and continuing to argue for Texas' rights to three million acres of submerged lands. He sponsored a bill that would return the Tidelands to Texas. His efforts resulted in passage and it became a law with President Eisenhower's signature. After four years as senator Price Daniel was elected governor, an office he held for three consecutive terms, from 1957 to 1963. Attempting to run for an unprecedented fourth term, he was defeated by John Connally in the gubernatorial primaries.

Although he established law offices in Austin and Liberty, Price Daniel returned to politics after a brief respite. He served as director in the office of Emergency Preparedness during the presidential administration of Lyndon Johnson. Soon thereafter, he was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court, remaining an associate justice from 1971 until his retirement in 1979. Daniel served as a special assistant to the Texas Attorney General for the Texas v. Louisiana boundary case. Maintaining memberships in many legal professional organizations, he was also active in a variety of civic and church activities until his death on August 25, 1988.

From the guide to the U. S. Senator Price Daniel papers, 1928, 1938-1939, 1942-1961, bulk 1952-1957, (Texas State Archives)