George Berham Parr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people with the same name, see George Parr (disambiguation)

George Berham Parr (March 1, 1901 - April 1, 1975) was a member of the Parr political family, which controlled a Democratic Party political machine that dominated Duval County and, to a lesser extent, Jim Wells County, Texas.

The Parr Machine functioned by providing political patronage to the county's impoverished and largely uneducated Mexican majority population through the county commission, which was controlled by the local Democrats through a tiny white minority. While the Anglo population had always asserted undue influence over the county's affairs, it was not until Archer Parr that any political leaders appealed to the county's Hispanic majority directly, by offering them jobs (and in some cases cash directly from the county coffers) in exchange for political support.

The alliance between the white-controlled commission and the Hispanic populace made the county a bastion of Democratic strength, but also gave the corrupt county government little reason to educate the populace. Illiteracy was a major problem in Duval County as late as 1940. The discovery of oil in Duval County also created ample opportunities for patronage, allowing Parr to amass a small fortune.

Parr engaged not only in the graft, bribery and fraud that are often associated with political machines, but may have even had his political enemies murdered. He was convicted of tax evasion in 1936, but was granted a pardon restoring his civil rights by President Harry Truman in 1946, by which time he had total control of the county, soon acquiring the nickname "Duke of Duval County." Parr's most famous act of corruption was browbeating election officials in nearby Jim Wells County into providing votes to ensure the primary victory of Lyndon Johnson in 1948.

By 1950, Parr had become a thorn in the side of Governor Allan Shivers, who encouraged federal officials to investigate the Parr machine. 650 indictments were given against machine members, but Parr eluded indictment, and his conviction for fraud was later dismissed. He relinquished control of his machine by the early 1970s, and committed suicide at his ranch in 1975.

While Parr's machine collapsed soon after his death, Duval County has remained one of the strongest and most consistently Democrat localities in Texas, frequently giving both national and local candidates margins greater than 70 percent.