Clayton Williams facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Clayton Williams
|
|
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Clayton Wheat Williams Jr.
October 8, 1931 Alpine, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | February 14, 2020 (aged 88) Midland, Texas, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | Betty Meriwether (divorced), Modesta Williams (his death) |
| Alma mater | Texas A&M University |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1954–1957 |
Clayton Wheat "Claytie" Williams Jr. (October 8, 1931 – February 14, 2020) was an American businessman from Midland, Texas who ran for governor in 1990. Despite securing the Republican nomination and initially leading in the polls against Democratic challenger State Treasurer Ann Richards by twenty points, Williams ultimately lost the race. During the campaign Williams cultivated an image of a cowboy figure who had risen from humble roots to become a powerful business tycoon. The image played well in public opinion polls. Williams often had a propensity for making poorly planned statements on the campaign trail.
Contents
Early life
He graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry. Then, as had his father during World War I, he served in the U.S. Army.
Career
In 1957, Williams followed in the business of his father, beginning in the oil fields of West Texas as a lease broker. Many of his companies were petroleum-related with interests in the exploration and production of natural gas and transportation and extraction of natural gas and natural gas liquids. In 1993, he took Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. public.
Williams diversified into the more traditional businesses of farming, ranching, real estate, and banking. He also tried his hand at long distance telecommunications. For a time he operated a long distance company, ClayDesta, named for both himself and his wife, Modesta. Williams also taught for six years in the Texas A&M College of Business Administration.
As an administrator, Clayton served as the vice president and director of the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M in 1977.
In January 2017, Clayton Williams Energy was sold to Noble Energy for $2.7 billion.
Political life
1990 Texas gubernatorial race
Williams began his run for Governor of Texas as one of several Republicans looking to succeed outgoing Governor Bill Clements, who had been elected to a second, non-consecutive term in the 1986 election (he had previously been elected in 1978). Clements elected not to run for a third term after he was strongly implicated in a pay-for-play scandal at Southern Methodist University, where he had served as the Director of the Board of Governors in between his terms as Governor of Texas.
He defeated a field of candidates for the nomination that included former U.S. Representative and outgoing Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance of Lubbock, former Texas Secretary of State Jack Rains of Houston and Dallas lawyer Tom Luce.
Williams spent freely from his personal fortune, running a "Good Old Boy" campaign initially appealing to conservatives. Prior to a series of gaffes, he was leading polling in double-digits in a race dubbed "Claytie vs. The Lady" by national media. A win would have made him only the second Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction after Clements.
In one of his widely publicized missteps, Williams refused to shake hands with Ann Richards in a public debate, an act seen as uncouth. He also expressed a lack of knowledge on the one constitutional amendment on the ballot and having not paid a cent of income tax in 1986.
Williams eventually lost the race despite leading Richards by 11 points as late as August and outspending her by almost 2-to-1. Exit polls stated that nearly half of voters for Richards went with her in the final month before election day. During his concession speech, Texas television stations showed Williams cracking a joke among his supporters: "I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that we lost; the good news is that it is not the end of the world." When the crowd urged him to try again in four years, he told his supporters, "I may be an Aggie, but I am not crazy."
Other political activities
Williams raised over $300,000 for the 2008 John McCain presidential campaign. In 2012, Williams donated $1 million to American Crossroads.
Death
He died of complications from pneumonia on February 14, 2020.
