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Preston Smith (governor)

Preston Smith
40th Governor of Texas
In office January 21, 1969 – January 16, 1973
Lieutenant	Ben Barnes
Preceded by	John Connally
Succeeded by	Dolph Briscoe
35th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
In office January 15, 1963 – January 21, 1969
Governor	John Connally
Preceded by	Ben Ramsey
Succeeded by	Ben Barnes
Member of the Texas Senate from the 28th district
In office January 8, 1957 – January 8, 1963[1]
Preceded by	Kilmer B. Corbin
Succeeded by	H. J. "Doc" Blanchard
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 119th district
In office January 9, 1945 – January 9, 1951[1]
Preceded by	Hop Hasley
Succeeded by	Waggoner Carr
Personal details
Born	Preston Earnest Smith (1912-03-08)March 8, 1912 Corn Hill (now Jarrell), Texas, U.S.
Died	October 18, 2003(2003-10-18) (aged 91) Lubbock, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Texas State Cemetery (Austin, Texas)
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Ima Mae Smith ​ ​ (m. 1935; died 1998)​
Children	2
Alma mater	Texas Tech University (BBA)
Profession	Entrepreneur, politician

Preston Earnest Smith (March 8, 1912 – October 18, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and politician who served as the 40th governor of Texas from 1969 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the lieutenant governor from 1963 to 1969.

Smith was born into a tenant farming family of 13 children in Corn Hill, a town in Williamson County, Texas, that has since been absorbed into nearby Jarrell.^[2][3][4] The family later moved to Lamesa, Texas, where Smith graduated in 1928 from Lamesa High School. In 1934, he graduated from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock with a bachelor's degree in business administration.^[3] Staying in Lubbock, he founded a movie theater business and invested in real estate.^[3][5]

Smith was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1944 and then to the Texas State Senate in 1956.^[6]

Smith's inauguration on January 21, 1969, had what was called "the flavor of the South Plains". The Texas Tech University marching band led the parade just behind the marshal and the color guard. A mounted masked Red Raider rode with the band. Governor and Mrs. Smith, both Tech graduates, followed in an open convertible. Other Smith family members rode in the parade, followed by the new lieutenant governor, Ben Barnes. The band of Lamesa High School, Smith's alma mater, was the first among the high school groups. Before the oath taking, the first to be televised in Texas history, Smith had been feted with a $25-per-place victory dinner in the Austin Municipal Auditorium, now the Long Center for the Performing Arts.^[7][8]

In 1971 and 1972, Smith was embroiled in the Sharpstown scandal stock fraud scheme, which eventually led to his downfall. Smith lost his third-term bid for the governorship of Texas to Dolph BriscoeofUvalde in the Democratic primary in 1972.^[9][10][11]

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• Kinch, Sam Jr.; Procter, Ben (1972). Texas Under a Cloud: Story of the Texas Stock Fraud Scandal. Jenkins.

• Programs for people, by Preston Smith, published 1973, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/020508/obi_243811655.shtml
• Papers, 1930-1975 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University