Wilbert Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel, Texas governor from January 17, 1939 through August 4, 1941, was born in Malta, Ohio on March 11, 1890, one of two children of William Barnes and Alice Ann (Thompson) O'Daniel. His father, who was a Union veteran, died in an accident shortly after his son was born. Before Wilbert was five years old his mother remarried and the family moved to a farm in Reno County, Kansas. He went to public schools in Arlington, Kansas and received a two-year degree from Salt City Business College in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1908. He went to work as a stenographer and bookkeeper at a flour milling company in Anthony, Kansas, and after a few years moved to a larger milling company in Kingman, Kansas where he became sales manager. Eventually he went into the flour milling business for himself. He moved to Kansas City in 1919, to New Orleans in 1921, and to Fort Worth in 1925 where he became sales manager of the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company. In 1928 he took over the company's radio advertising and began writing poems and songs and discussing religious topics on a weekly radio program which he directed. He hired a band of unemployed musicians and named them the Light Crust Doughboys. The Doughboys, who played hillbilly music, gained widespread popularity. O'Daniel was credited with popularizing western swing music and helped to launch the career of musician Bob Wills. O'Daniel served as the president of the Forth Worth Chamber of Commerce from 1933 to 1934. In 1935 he formed his own flour company.
Despite his lack of political experience O'Daniel decided to run for governor in 1938 at the urging of his radio audience. He ran on a platform of the Ten Commandments, motherly love and patriotism and called for increased old-age pensions, social security, tax cuts and industrialization. He emphasized the fact that he was an outsider and railed against professional politicians. In one of the great upsets in Texas gubernatorial history he defeated twelve other candidates, including a number of seasoned politicians, without a runoff. He reneged on campaign promises to block sales taxes, end capital punishment and raise pensions. Because of his political inexperience and inability to compromise with opponents he had difficulties getting the state legislature to cooperate with his agenda; he had twelve out of fifty-seven vetoes overridden--a record . He also felt he was unfairly treated by the established press in major cities and decided to publish his own newspaper, The W. Lee O'Daniel News . In spite of his legislative shortcomings he remained popular with common people primarily due to weekly Sunday morning broadcasts he made from the Governor's Mansion; the broadcasts combined homey religious and patriotic themes with poems, music and commentary on social and political issues. He was reelected to a second term in 1940 but resigned in August of 1941 when he won a special election to fill the unexpired term of U.S. Senator Morris Shepherd who died in office. In the senatorial election he edged out young New Deal Congressman Lyndon Johnson, who was endorsed by President Roosevelt.
O'Daniel ran for reelection to the Senate in 1942 against, among others, former governors James V Allred and Daniel J. Moody. He claimed there was a conspiracy against him headed by Allred and Moody, professional politicians, the politically controlled press, and communistic liberal labor leaders allied to defeat him. He narrowly defeated Allred, largely through the strength of elderly and rural voters. He proved to be unpopular with both his constituents at home and his colleagues in the Senate. He had a public approval rating in the single digits and chose not to run for reelection when his term expired in 1948. He returned to Texas, bought a ranch near Forth Worth, invested in real estate and formed an insurance company in Dallas. He ran in Democratic gubernatorial primaries in 1956 and 1958 making anti-communist and racist appeals but finished a distant third in both elections.
O'Daniel married Merle Estella Butcher in 1917 in Hutchinson, Kansas. They had two sons and a daughter. He died on May 12, 1969 in Dallas and was buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park.
From the guide to the Records, 1938-1941, undated, (bulk 1939-1941), (Texas State Archives)
