17 Facts About Dan Moody

Dan Moody took office as the youngest governor in Texas history.

Dan Moody continued to prosecute and represent various functions of the US government later in life.

Dan Moody was the son of Taylor's mayor, justice of the peace, and school board chairman, Daniel James Moody, who was one of the town's first settlers in 1876.

Dan Moody's mother, Nannie Elizabeth Robertson, was a local schoolteacher when Moody married her in 1890.

In 1920, Dan Moody served as Williamson County Attorney, a position he held for two years before becoming District Attorney in 1922.

In 1923, Dan Moody obtained an assault conviction against four members of the Ku Klux Klan for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman.

Dan Moody's investigation recovered $1 million for the taxpayers of Texas.

In 1927, Dan Moody defeated her in a runoff election and became the youngest governor of Texas.

Suffragists' activism provided a major contribution to her defeat, as they rallied behind Dan Moody and campaigned for him.

Dan Moody opposed the nomination of "wet," Catholic Al Smith in the 1928 presidential primaries, but unlike the Fergusons, he supported Smith against Herbert Hoover in the general election, which saw Texas vote Republican for the first time in its history.

Dan Moody supported a reform program of state prisons, roads, and auditing system.

In 1931, Dan Moody resumed private law practice in Austin, Texas, after his last term as governor.

Dan Moody continued to represent Texas and its executives throughout the 1930s.

Dan Moody entered politics for the last time in 1942 for a Texas seat in the US Senate.

Dan Moody endorsed the Republican Richard Nixon for president in 1960.

Dan Moody died in 1966 and was buried at the Texas State Cemetery.

The Williamson County Courthouse had the courtroom in which Dan Moody tried his famous case against the Klan completely restored to its 1920s appearance and reopened in 2007.