Forgotten American Blogging: Maury Maverick

During the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain's use of the term "maverick" to describe himself led to a curious rebuttal. Sarah wrote a post about the Maverick family of San Antonio, long leaders in regional progressive politics, snapping at McCain for adopting the term.

The most famous member of this family is Maury Maverick. Pretty much forgotten about today, Maverick had a really interesting, if short, career. Born in San Antonio in 1895, he lived the life of a member of the Texas elite--education at Virginia Military Institute, Texas Military Institute, and the University of Texas; passed the bar in 1916, served in World War I as a lieutenant earning a Silver Star and Purple Heart, engaged in private business after the war, and a career in local politics. Maverick's liberal reputation began during these years when he took on the Ku Klux Klan in San Antonio.

But in 1934, Maverick suddenly became an important national figure. With the support of San Antonio's Latino population, Maverick was elected to the House of Representatives. There he was an ardent New Dealer from one of the most conservative states in the country. Upon reaching Congress, Maverick rapidly became a leader of the progressive bloc in the House, particularly his "Mavericks," 35 young congressmen who resented the conservative Democratic leadership in Congress. Maverick led fights to create the National Cancer Institute, to clear slums, and for conservation.

Even by the time his first term began in 1935, a lot of Texas Democrats were opposed to most of the New Deal, especially Vice President John Nance Garner. One of the greatest things Lyndon Johnson ever did was sabotaging Garner's attempt to take the 1940 Democratic nomination from Franklin Roosevelt. Garner wanted to turn back much of the New Deal and it's hard to imagine Garner providing the same kind of leadership as Roosevelt through World War II. Anyway, Maverick quickly felt the ire of Garner, Martin Dies, and other conservative Texas Democrats. He managed to get reelected in 1936. But in 1938, running for a 3rd term, the Texas Democratic Party redbaited Maverick out of office, claiming that he wanted to "supplant the American flag with the red flag of Russia." During these years he also mentored the young Lyndon Johnson, an interesting point because Johnson certainly didn't follow Maverick's radical leanings. However, Johnson was excellent at making people believe he was on their side, regardless of the position, so this is not the surprising.

Maverick still was very popular among the Latino poor that made up much of his district and almost immediately upon his return to Texas he was elected mayor of San Antonio. Maverick received federal money to build the famed Riverwalk that now defines downtown San Antonio, an object lesson to Texans of what the federal government can do for you, not that they would ever listen.

Again, the Texas Democratic Party, and especially the San Antonio political machine, worked to redbait him out of office and he was defeated for reelection in 1941. Maverick was a strong believer in free speech. He lent out San Antonio's Municipal Auditorium to a labor union with communist connections. In response, his opponents burned him in effigy and destroyed his political career. Still the ardent New Dealer, Maverick worked for the Roosevelt administration in useful ways during World War II, serving on the War Production Board and the Smaller War Plants Corporation, as well as the Office of Price Administration and Office of Personnel Management.

Following World War II, Maverick went back to the law, dying in 1954 at the age of 58. His son, Maury Maverick, Jr., followed in his father's footsteps, providing a lonely liberal voice to Texas politics until his death in 2003.

Tuesday Forgotten American Blogging: George Henry Thomas

Despite what neo-Confederates say about Southerners standing up for their region, not all Southerners committed treason in defense of slavery.

Take the example of George Henry Thomas. As Ernest B. Furguson argues in a recent issue of Smithsonian Magazine, Thomas has been unjustly forgotten by history because he was a Southerner who fought for the Union.

It's not as if Thomas had no connection to slavery. In fact, when he was fifteen he was nearly killed during the 1831 Nat Turner Rebellion in Virginia. The most violent slave insurrection in the history of the United States, Turner's forces killed 55 whites before facing slaughter from local militias. His family owned slaves and broke the law in order to teach some of them to read.

When he turned 20, like many Southern gentlemen, Thomas entered West Point. Thomas' early military career consisted of subduing the Seminoles in Florida and then heading west to fight in the Mexican War. He served well, rising in rank throughout the conflict. In 1851, he became artillery instructor at West Point. Although he spent as much time as possible at home in Virginia, he never forgot that he served the United States government. In 1860, when Virginia was moving toward secession, Governor John Letcher offered Thomas a high level post. Thomas replied, "It is not my wish to leave the service of the United States as long as it is honorable for me to remain in it, and therefore as long as my native State Virginia remains in the Union it is my purpose to remain in the Army, unless required to perform duties alike repulsive to honor and humanity."

Thomas did not believe that ending slavery was a duty repulsive to honor and humanity. In fact, Thomas became an important military strategist for the Union, fighting at major battles throughout the conflict and rising in rank as well. He helped hold Chattanooga for the Union in 1863, was given command of the Army of the Cumberland, and survived a siege in that city. Thomas gladly accepted black soldiers into his armies and believed that the Army was a good transition from slavery to freedom for them.

Thomas never reached the highest ranks of the military, in part because, as a Southerner, he lacked the patronage in high positions that people like Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman enjoyed. By late 1864, Thomas was back in Tennessee, fighting Confederate forces threatening to retake Nashville. Grant, who evidently never much cared for Thomas, wanted to fire him because he had not engaged the Confederates. But while the message was on the way to get rid of him, Thomas attacked on December 15 and crushed the Confederates under General Hood. This fight was a complete annihilation of Hood's forces, which military historians have argued was the only time this happened during the war.

After the war, Thomas was generous to his vanquished Southern brothers but also vociferously opposed the Ku Klux Klan. He also declined when Andrew Johnson wanted to promote Thomas to full general, correctly seeing that this was a political move intended to stop Grant from become president. He didn't live long anyway, suffering a stroke in 1870 and dying at the age of 53.

What's really important here is that Thomas, like Winfield Scott and other Southerners, did not commit treason. Many Southerners made the right choice and fought for the Union. Don't let the neo-Confederates tell you otherwise. Robert E. Lee and others faced a tough decision and they made the wrong choice. They decided to secede in defense of slavery rather than fight for the nation which they had taken an oath.

There is a 1986 biography of Thomas which I have not read, entitled, Rock of Chickamauga: The Life of General George H. Thomas, by Freeman Cleves. Other than that, I know of no other publications on Thomas except for this article from which this information is derived. Frankly, I had never heard of the man until Rob sent this article to me, for which I thank him.