Bob Bullock: God Bless Texas

Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas Heritage

by Dave McNeely, Jim Henderson

Renowned for his fierce devotion to the people of Texas—as well as his equally fierce rages and unpredictable temper—Bob Bullock was the most powerful political figure in Texas at the end of the twentieth century. First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1956, Bullock held several key statewide posts before capturing the lieutenant governor's office in 1990. Though nominally the state's number two official, Bullock in fact became Texas's top power broker, wielding tremendous influence over the legislative agenda and state budget through the 1990s while also mentoring and supporting a future president—George W. Bush. In this lively, yet thoroughly researched biography, award-winning journalists Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson craft a well-rounded portrait of Bob Bullock, underscoring both his political adroitness and his personal demons. They trace Bullock's rise through state government as Assistant Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Comptroller, and Lieutenant Governor, showing how he increased the power of every office he held. The authors spotlight Bullock's substantial achievements, which included hiring an unprecedented number of women and minorities, instituting a performance review to increase the efficiency of state agencies, restructuring the public school funding system, and creating the state's first water conservation and management plan.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2008

Reviews

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much I am now planning to visit Bob Bullock’s grave. A must-read for anyone interested in Texas politics.

[markpills · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the truly influential men of Texas government, who loved his state and served it for five-decades around the rotund capital in Austin; but really all over the Lone Star State, Bob Bullock was a small but forceful giant, who paved his way into history by being relentless, organized, passionate, and flexible, in whatever role he played, or whatever legislation he supported. This book describes the multi-faceted personality, conflicted policy positions, aggressive strategic tactics, intuitive political instincts, and spicy personal exploits of a man married five times. With hundreds of brushes with breaking the law, he still maintained high positions such as Sec’y. of State, Comptroller, and Lt. Governor, as well as being a rank and file legislator from the Hillsboro area of North/Central Texas. This biography teaches the novice a knotty course on the byzantine Texas legislature, because Bullock ran the system better than anyone in the state’s history; however, it also tries to pull back the curtain as much as possible, on a complicated, rancorous personal life, with which more than once, he crashed into the ditch. Notwithstanding his bad behavior, Bullock never lost an election, and never backed-down from his strident, abrasive, hostile, contrarian positions, whether he liked you or not; his leadership derived from his ideals, not his latest position in the polls. He was desperate to lead, and most of the time the Senate was desperate to be led. He was a lawyer, logistical genius, close-combat lobbyist, late-nite drinker, smoker, liar, liberal, bully/pugilist, strategist, student, grinder, early-riser, gossip, tyrant, legend, philanthropist, drunk-driver, Air Force veteran, erstwhile husband, dedicated Democrat, confidant, up close talker, easy ally, terrible enemy, historian, perfectionist, shifty-prankster, hypocrite, and this book covers all of these areas with meticulous research, reflected in extensive references throughout each chapter. The chapters contain an average of 15 footnotes each, and the story is told by two excellent journalists who took their time accumulating factual sources. After the Lt. Gov. died in 1999, it wasn’t until 2008, this memoir was published by the UT/Austin Press, and I am glad they did it right.

[Tom Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I used to work for in the Texas State Comptroller's Office - the organization where Bullock established his power over the state. I've appreciated the way this book explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of Bullock. Though there is some controversy about the authors frank discussion of Bullock's alcoholism, I'm glad they included it. You can't really get to know a man without some discussion of his demons. Even though I'm a generation or two behind Bullock's days in the Capitol, this book helped me to better understand the Texas I currently work for and deeply love.

[Michael]

Is there a started-to-read-but-threw-down-in-anger-and-revulsion category? I was waiting for this book to come out. Here's arguably the single most fascinating political character out of Texas in a generation -- no mean feat in a field with Ann Richards, Victor Morales and Kinky Friedman for starters -- subjected to what from the first several chapters promises to be hackish best-we-could-throw-together-on-deadline style newspaper writing spread across hundreds of pages. What a disappointment. What a shame.

[Charley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview of a giant in Texas politics and government for the most of the latter half of the 20th century. I would have enjoyed the book much more if it had gone into greater depths about the good government and modernization efforts he implemented as Comptroller. Also, there were several parts of the book that came across as either a journalist (and book co-author) with an axe to grind or someone that was a bit too close to the subject to be objective.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bullock is one of the larger-than-life characters in Texas Politics-- think Charlie Wilson... It was written by a journalist, so it's not heavy prose. You'll be astounded that a man with so many emotional and moral shortcomings could change Texas for the better in such a profound way... loved it!

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, this was a good book, but only needed a bit more focus to become a great book. It is hard to screw up with material like this, but I think with a little more effort this book could have really been stellar.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of the political life of Bob Bullock. The book covers the good, bad and ugly of this influential man. Some of the stories are shocking, in fact. All in all, it's worth a read if you are interested in 20th century Texas history and politics.

[Gary Mennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading about the good and bad of Texas politics.., when you think of Texas politics you think of Bullock and others like Charlie Wilson Jack Brooks. I think it worth the read regardless if you live in Texas.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative biography of one of Texas' most influential politicians of the 20th Century.

[Pam]

Can't resist; has a chapter titled: Women, Liquor, Airplanes, and Guns.

[John Julitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for people interested in the history of Texas politics. People outside of Texas might find the references/people a bit obscure.