The Man from Tenaha: George Edwin Bailey Peddy

Campaign photo of George Peddy taken at his Peddy Point home, north of Houston. This and all other illustrations arefrom the author's personal collection. The Manfrom Tenaha: George Edwin Bailey Peddy Larry McNeill* if george peddy is remembered at all, it's because he received 20 percent of the vote in the 1 948 Texas Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, and this in part caused the necessity of a runoff between Coke Stevenson and LyndonJohnson.1 That was the election in whichJohnson became known as Landslide Lyndon. My talk tonight is not about the 1948 election but about the identity of one of the participants. Who was George Peddy? The short answer is he was an idealist and he was a patriot. He had a gift for leadership, a flair for speaking, and I will touch on these tonight by discussing a few of the historical events in which he played a role and quoting from some of his speeches and correspondence. George was not born to favorable economic circumstances. In 1892 his father died two months before George's birth, leaving George's mother with seven sons (the eldest being ten years old) to raise on a mortgaged farm five miles from the closest town, Tenaha, in Shelby County. The town was accessible to the Peddys only by a narrow winding dirt road canopied by a forest of pine trees. Trips to town were restricted to four or five times each year to lay in supplies. The farm was 200 acres, carved out from the PineyWoods that surrounded it on all sides. The Peddys grew cotton, corn, sugarcane, and peanuts, and die sale of these crops provided their sole source of income.2 The closest high school was in Tenaha, and when George had advanced through the curricula ofthe small schools near the farm, he traded personal labor in the employ of Dr.Jake Spivey and his wife for room and board at * Larry McNeill is the managing shareholder and president of the Clark, Thomas & Winters law firm, principally located in Austin. This is an expanded version ofthe presidential address he delivered at the 1 1 1 th TSHA annual meeting in San Antonio, March 9, 2007. 1 Texas Almanac 1949-1950 (Dallas: A. H. Belo Corp., 1949). 'CD. Waide, "George Peddy's Life, a Story ofHard Work and His Neighbors atTenahaAll Speak Well About Him," Houston Chronicle, Sept. 24, 1922. Vol. CXI, No. 2 Southwestern Historical Quarterly October, 2007 138Southwestern Historical QuarterlyOctober Tenaha Town Square, circa 1905. thatfamily's town residence. To finance his college education, he obtained a teaching certificate and taught at the Woods Post Office community school five miles north ofTenaha. He began his collegiate career at the University ofTexas in 1913, and then spent another year teaching in Shelby County to raise sufficient funds to return to college.* During the college year, he lived in B Hall, known as the poor boys' dormitory, washed dishes, and waited on tables to make ends meet.4 George Peddy became a statewide figure in 19 1 7. He served in die Texas legislature while still attending the university, where he had been elected student body president. Though only a freshman legislator, his oratorical skills were recognized early on and utilized in the legislative fight over women's suffrage. George was identified as a significant contributor in the ultimate victory oftìiat cause. He also took active part in the events leading up to the impeachment of Gov.James Ferguson.5 His career in the legislature, however, was cut short by the United States' entry into World War I. Although membership in the legislature exempted him from military service, he volunteered for the First Officers' Training Camp at Leon Springs and was commissioned a captain of infantry.6»Ibid. 4Walter E. Long, ForAU Time to Come (Austin: Steck Co., 1964), 13; Waide, "George Peddy's Life." 5Dallas MorningNews, Sept. 17, 1922. •Evelyn Miller Crowell, Men ofAchievement (Dallas:John Moranz Associates, 1948), 238; Gus C. Dittmar, They WmFirst (Austin: Steck-Warlich Co., 1969), 253. 2007The Manfrom Tenaha: GeorgeEdwin Bailey Peddy13g It was in 1917 that Gov. James Ferguson's battle with the University of Texas, begun...