Ken Towery (1923- ), Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former POW, was born in 1923 in Monroe County, Mississippi. After World War II, Towery attended Southwest Texas Junior College and became the managing editor of the Cuero Daily Record in Cuero, Texas.
In 1955, Towery was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in local reporting for breaking the story and publishing a series of articles exposing fraud and corruption in the Texas Veterans Land Programs. Towery had discovered that white Cuero businessmen were paying black veterans to sign over veterans loan applications to buy land. The Veterans Land Board was investigated by the State Legislature, and Texas Land Commissioner Bascom Giles was indicted and served three years in the Texas State Penitentiary. In total, twenty people were indicted in nine counties.
Towery went on to work in government service and was active in politics and political campaigns.
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Sources
- Kaderli, Elizabeth, “Veterans’ Land Board Scandal”http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/VV/mqv1.html
Handbook of Texas Online, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/VV/mqv1.html (accessed October 15, 2009)
- Towery, Ken, The Chow Dipper: A Personal and Political Odyssey. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1994
- Ken Towery Papers, 1954-2003, Archives & Records, Texas General Land Office, Austin
From the guide to the Ken Towery Papers, 1954-1955, 2003, (Texas General Land Office, Archives & Records)
