Dolph Briscoe is recognized as having been one of the leading citizens of the state and a benevolent supporter of many civic, cultural, and educational institutions in Texas and the nation.
23 Facts About Dolph Briscoe
2.
Dolph Briscoe was the last Democratic Texan to be re-elected to the Governor's Mansion with his reelection landslide victory in 1974; fellow Democratic governors Mark White and Ann Richards lost their re-election bids respectively, in 1986 and 1994.
3.
Dolph Briscoe's father was a descendant of Texas Declaration of Independence signer Andrew Briscoe.
4.
Dolph Briscoe was first attracted to politics at an early age.
5.
Thanks to his father's friendship with Governor Ross Sterling, the young Dolph Briscoe traveled to Austin and the Texas Governor's Mansion in 1932.
6.
At the age of nine, Governor Sterling invited Dolph Briscoe to stay at the mansion and sleep in Sam Houston's bed.
7.
Dolph Briscoe was active in many campus organizations, including the Friar Society, the Texas Cowboys, Chi Phi Fraternity, and was editor of The Cactus yearbook.
8.
Dolph Briscoe served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II and advanced in rank to become an officer.
9.
When Dolph Briscoe returned from military service, he returned home to Uvalde and the ranching business.
10.
Dolph Briscoe counted Vice President John Nance Garner, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, House Speaker Sam Rayburn, and Governor Sterling as his political mentors.
11.
Dolph Briscoe won his first election and was re-elected in 1950,1952 and 1954 and served from 1949 to 1957.
12.
Dolph Briscoe became best known as the co-author of the Colson-Briscoe Act, which appropriated funding for the state's farm-to-market road system.
13.
In 1968, Dolph Briscoe attempted to reenter the political arena, when he joined a list of candidates seeking to replace retiring Texas Gov.
14.
Dolph Briscoe finished fourth in the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year.
15.
Dolph Briscoe was inaugurated as the forty-first governor of Texas on January 16,1973.
16.
Dolph Briscoe presided over the first revision of the state's penal code in one hundred years.
17.
Dolph Briscoe added $4 billion in new state funds for public education and higher education, increased teacher salaries by the highest percentage in history, and raised salaries for state employees as well.
18.
Dolph Briscoe expanded services to handicapped Texans by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and established the first toll-free hotline for runaway children.
19.
Dolph Briscoe appointed a larger number of women and minorities to positions in Texas state government than any previous governor, appointed the first African American members to state boards, and named the first African American district judge.
20.
Dolph Briscoe ran for a third term in 1978, but lost to then-Texas Attorney General John Luke Hill in the 1978 Democratic primary.
21.
In June 2008, Dolph Briscoe donated $1.2 million in memory of his late granddaughter, Kate Marmion, to found the Kate Marmion Regional Cancer Medical Center.
22.
Dolph Briscoe died on the evening of June 27,2010 at his home in Uvalde, Texas following complications of heart and kidney failure at the age of 87.
23.
Dolph Briscoe was buried at the Briscoe Rio Frio Ranch Cemetery at the family ranch next to his wife.