George Berham Parr (March 1, 1901 – April 1, 1975) was an American politician, who controlled a Democratic political machine that dominated Duval County, Texas and, to a lesser extent, Jim Wells County. He was known as "The Duke of Duval," like his father before him.

Early life

George Berham Parr was born on March 1, 1901, in San Diego, Texas. His father was Archer "Archie" Parr, a prominent local political boss.

Personal life

Parr was a legislative page at the Texas Capitol during one of his father's terms in the Texas Legislature and attended the West Texas Military Academy for four years. He graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1921, where he played end on the football team that won the South Texas championship. Parr attended a variety of post-secondary educational institutions, each briefly, and without completing a degree. He entered the University of Texas Law School in 1923 as a special student, but again left without taking a degree. Still, in 1926 he passed the bar examination and was admitted to practice. Also that year, George's father appointed him to complete the term of George's brother, Givens Parr, as Duval county judge.

In 1923, George Parr married his high school sweetheart, Thelma Duckworth of Corpus Christi. They divorced and remarried, and divorced again in 1949; Parr subsequently married Eva Perez. He had two daughters.

For a time, Parr and his friends were enthusiastic and accomplished polo players, albeit on cow ponies with western saddles. By 1940, the white educated population had been reduced to a tiny minority amongst a large Mexican-American population. Parr garnered popular support with his charisma, his fluency in Spanish, and Robin Hood tendencies with sharing the Duval County and Benavides Independent School District coffers. After Archer's death, George inherited the Parr political machine, and the populace passed on the name, "El Patrón", to him as they did his father.

The discovery of oil in Duval County also created ample opportunities for patronage, allowing Parr to amass a small fortune. To this day, the family's network has limited influence in Texas politics giving its patronage to both Democratic beneficiaries. James Albon Mattox, successfully relied on the old Parr network in his run as the Democratic Party nominee for Texas Attorney General, garnering a majority of the vote in the county despite running against a Mexican-American.

Political crimes and presidential pardon

Parr engaged in the graft, bribery and fraud that are often associated with political machines. Along with other large landowners and managers of landed estates owned by prominent Eastern businessmen, Parr helped develop the practice of working illegal aliens and later using them for advancing political interests. More importantly, his own political career included serving as both the Duval County Judge and Sheriff. He also owned the San Diego State Bank, and the famous Dobie Ranch, including the Parr's Los Horcones Ranch. He was also a partner and silent partner of dozens of businesses in South Texas.

He was convicted of tax evasion in 1932, and eventually served nine months in Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno after violating his parole. He applied for a presidential pardon in July 1943; U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle blocked it in part because Congressman Richard M. Kleberg opposed the pardon. (In 1934 Archie's reelection to the Texas State senate was in doubt and he hoped that building a road to Corpus Christi across the King Ranch, which was owned by the Kleberg family, would save his political career. When their heretofore political ally Robert Kleberg, Richard's brother, refused, George replied in anger. "You're crucifying my father... I'll get you. I'll gut you if it's the last thing I do.") Such a pardon would demonstrate Parr's power to the other political jefes in the Rio Grande valley. After Tom C. Clark replaced Biddle, Johnson helped secure a pardon from U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The pardon, restoring Parr's civil rights, was granted on February 20, 1946.

Another likely motivation to oppose Stevenson was that in 1944, Parr and Judge Raymond of Webb County had asked Stevenson, then the Governor, to appoint E. James Kazen (a Raymond relative) Laredo district attorney. The commander at Laredo Army Air Force Base argued to the Governor that half his men had venereal disease and that a district attorney connected to the local political machine meant lax enforcement of laws against prostitution, which would adversely affect his force. For the sake of the war effort, Stevenson appointed a different candidate. He was found dead at his ranch on April 1, 1975, after apparently committing suicide. When Parr's machine collapsed soon after his death, Duval County's small Anglo white (but large-landowning) minority attempted to retain control of the county politically but was unable to halt the take-over of the county Democratic party by the now overwhelmingly large Mexican-American population. Nonetheless, the family and its network remains influential so that the county has remained one of the strongest and most consistently Democratic localities in Texas, frequently giving both national and local candidates victories greater than 70 percent.

George's father Archie Parr founded the Dynasty of Duval County. Archer Parr III (1925–2000), né Archer Weller, Archie's grandson and adopted son, was the third Duke of the Duval County Dynasty. Archer Weller Parr was the county judge from 1959 to 1975; he died November 2, 2000, in Alice, Texas.

References

Further reading

  • Dallas Morning News, August 18, 19, 20, 1974

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