Coke R. Stevenson

Stevenson was born in a log cabin in Mason County, the son of Robert Milton Stevenson and Virginia (Hurley) Stevenson. Although some works indicate that Stevenson was named after former Texas Governor Richard Coke, contemporary news accounts indicate he was named after Methodist Bishop Thomas Coke. Stevenson had three brothers – Bascom, Pierce, and Asbury – and their parents named each of the Stevenson sons after a prominent Methodist bishop. Stevenson's father was a surveyor and school teacher who later opened a store in Junction. As a teenager, Stevenson went into business hauling freight with a six-horse wagon on a seventy-five mile trip between Junction and Brady, a trip that took a week to complete. ==Early career==

In 1913, Stevenson organized and became president of the First National Bank in Junction. As bank president, Stevenson developed a habit of sitting next to the front door of the bank so that he would be the first person his customers would see. He also became active in several other business ventures, including a warehouse, movie theater, hardware store, automobile dealership, newspaper, drug store, and hotel. ==Public service==

Local government (1914–1920) In 1914, the Kimble County commissioners' court appointed Stevenson to the office of County Attorney for the purpose of finding and prosecuting sheep and goat thieves who were tormenting county residents. Stevenson served as County Attorney for two terms, and during his tenure sheep and goat thefts in Kimble County declined sharply. In 1918, a group of community leaders whose priority was the construction of adequate roads in Kimble County drafted Stevenson to run for Kimble County Judge, the chief executive position in Texas counties. Stevenson was reluctant to run, but eventually assented on the condition that the group would do all the campaigning for him and that he would not be asked to run for a second term. All but one candidate against Stevenson dropped out prior to election day and he was elected by a five to one margin, with the exact count being 757 to 155 votes. In both the 1942 and 1944 gubernatorial elections Stevenson won a higher percentage in the Democratic primaries than any other candidate in Texan history. Although Stevenson was pressured to run for a third term, he declined, citing the tradition of previous governors to limit their tenure to two terms. When Stevenson left the governorship in January 1947, he was the longest-serving governor in the history of Texas and had presided over a broad and deep economic recovery during the years of World War II. With the top two finishers advancing to a runoff election, Peddy and several minor candidates were eliminated from contention. In the hotly contested runoff between Stevenson and Johnson, Johnson won by only 87 votes out of 988,295 cast – one of the closest results in a senatorial election in U.S. history. (As there was only a weak Republican Party in Texas at the time, winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to election.) Stevenson challenged the result on the grounds of ballot stuffing alleged to have occurred in a single precinct, which involved 202 disputed votes from Jim Wells County (200 for Johnson, 2 for Stevenson). He ordered the injunction stayed, and his ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court. Retirement from politics After the loss to Johnson, Stevenson retired to Junction. Disenchanted with the Democratic Party, he supported Republican Jack Porter against Johnson in the general election and continued to support Republicans for the rest of his life, including John G. Tower for the Senate and Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater for the presidency. ==Personal life and death==

On December 24, 1912, Stevenson married Fay Wright. Marguerite had been married to Gordon Marshall Heap, who died in action during World War II. He was buried at the Stevenson Family Ranch in Telegraph. ==Historiography==

Stevenson's character became a subject of historical discussion after the publication of Means of Ascent, the second volume of Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson, which covers the disputed 1948 election. Caro portrayed Stevenson as an honorable statesman and reluctant office-seeker, in contrast to the venal and intensely ambitious Johnson. In the April 26, 1990, issue of The New York Review of Books, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Garry Wills criticized Caro's characterization of the former Texas governor as anti-corrupt and claimed that in his gubernatorial campaigns, Stevenson had also likely forged a significant number of votes in the very same corrupt counties which aided Johnson in 1948. In one Texas gubernatorial primary, Stevenson obtained 3,310 votes in the notorious Duval County while five of his rivals split the remaining 17 votes that were tallied. This essay also appeared as an afterword to the paperback edition of Means of Ascent. ==See also==