Politics &amp; Policy

August 1, 1984

Great Moments in Republican History

How Texas became a two-party state in spite of the GOP.

By Jim Atkinson and Paul Burka

August 1, 1984

The Way It’s Going to Be

Turn off the TV. Go fishing. Here’s the inside story of what will happen at the convention, complete with Nancy Reagan’s tacky visit to a bowling alley.

By Nicholas Lemann

July 31, 1984

Guv Passes, Teachers Flunk

Mark White has finally earned high marks in lobbying the Legislature.

July 1, 1984

Texas Primer: The Blue Law

On Sunday it is legal to buy beer but not baby bottles, screws but not screwdrivers, disposable diapers but not cloth ones. No place but Texas.

By Michael Ennis

June 30, 1984

The Man in the Black Hat, Part Two

With the help of a friendly banker and some friendlier politicians, Clinton Manges conquered might Mobil Oil and saved his empire. But not for long—it’s in jeopardy again.

May 31, 1984

The Man in the Black Hat, Part One

Clinton Manges built his empire on brushland and oil wells, political contributions and lawsuits. His influence extends to the state capitol and oil company boardrooms. To get where he is, he studied under three masters of South Texas.

April 1, 1984

I Opened Tax Returns for the IRS

Behind the scenes at regional headquarters—a sometime part-timer tells all.

By Martha Ebersole

March 1, 1984

At the Mercy of the Court

What do drunks, prostitutes, lunatics, and elevators have in common? They’re all part of the weird 24-hour-a-day world of the Dallas County courthouse.

By Jim Atkinson

February 1, 1984

Come On, Walter—Smile!

Austin’s Roy Spence parlayed his success in Mark White’s campaign into a job selling Walter Mondale to the American people.

December 1, 1983

Behind the Lines

Dropping the aristocratic burden.

November 1, 1983

Duel for the Sun

Crosbytown and Texas Tech wanted to harvest a major local resource: the sun. But then the feds stepped in, and the issue switched from energy to power.

By Fryar Calhoun

November 1, 1983

Pieces of the Puzzle

Great moments in the conspiracy time line.

By Texas Monthly

November 1, 1983

They Can’t All Be Right

After twenty years these are the assassination theories that still survive.

By Texas Monthly

November 1, 1983

Still on the Case

Assassination buffs come in all shapes and convictions—archivists, technologists, mob-hit theorists, and more—but they are all obsessed with Lee Harvey Oswald, and his crime is the focus of their lives.

By Ron Rosenbaum

November 1, 1983

Why Do They Hate Us So Much?

A great man was dead and an outraged world desperately wanted someplace to lay blame. It chose Dallas and changed the city forever.

By Lawrence Wright

November 1, 1983

The Legacy of Lee Harvey Oswald

Twenty years ago he thrust himself into our lives; he is there yet.

By Texas Monthly

October 1, 1983

Mayor of the Unfinished City

To become more than a perpetual boom town, Dallas needs a foresighted leader and astute politician. Is Starke Taylor the man?

By Jim Atkinson

August 31, 1983

Squeaky Wheels

Independent oilmen are still for free enterprise, but these days they also expect a little favoritism from Uncle Sam.

By Stephen Chapman

May 31, 1983

The Long Boyhood of George H.W. Bush

Like the hero of a boys’ novel, George Bush moved from the East to the wild and woolly West. He wanted to prove himself, by golly, to Yale, Procter & Gamble, and the old man.

By Harry Hurt III

May 1, 1983

Mark White’s Coming-Out Party

The new governor’s first hundred days were great theater, but now come taxes.

Hunting & Fishing|

April 1, 1983

The New Rustlers

Today’s desperadoes are in the bays of the Texas coast, roping redfish and cursing the Parks and Wildlife Department.

By Dick Reavis

March 1, 1983

Friends In Deed

Meet some of Texas' secular latter-day saints: volunteers.

By Suzanne Winckler

February 1, 1983

The Year Everything Changed

If you think Texas is pretty much the same as it was ten years ago, you’re wrong. Nineteen seventy-three remade the state overnight.

January 1, 1983

The Making of a Congressman

Twelve ran, Mike Andrews won. A saga of ambition, money, power, courage, and the nature of urban politics in Texas.

By Victoria Loe

January 1, 1983

God’s Happy Hour

Every year communities scattered across Texas hold wet-dry elections. Each one pits the forces of fundamentalism against the forces of realism. This is the story of one such election.

By Dick Reavis

October 1, 1982

Jim Collins and the Armies Of The Faithful

Jim Collins is running for the Senate on the claim that it’s better to be right (wing) than to pass bills. If he wins, it will change Texas politics.

May 31, 1982

The Bishop Drops A Bomb

When an Amarillo bishop decried the nearby H-bomb plant, he wooed the press, alienated the city, and picked on his parishioners.

By Joseph Nocera

April 1, 1982

Trial by Technicality

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals confirms your worst fears about lawyers and judges and the impotence of the criminal justice system.

March 1, 1982

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Next President of Mexico

On the surface, Mexico’s presidential election looks a lot like ours—rallies, placards, speeches—but the outcome there is never in doubt.

By Dick Reavis

February 1, 1982

Little Oil

Big Oil no longer holds political sway in Washington, and wildcatters are celebrating a new Texas independents’ day.

By Kaye Northcott

January 1, 1982

The Lord’s Work

Rusty Hardin is a prosecutor. Most of the time, his job is to put people in jail. This time, he wants a man dead.

By Jim Atkinson

January 1, 1982

The Party’s Over

Time was when Texas Republicans had to stand united. But now their party's in power and there's rivalry in the ranks.

By Douglas Harlan

December 1, 1981

Behind the Lines

The big boom.

November 1, 1981

Behind the Lines

The water problem; or, Texas is not all wet.

September 30, 1981

Behind the Lines

In defense of failure—and success.

September 1, 1981

One Woman’s Tiny Problem Confronts Dallas City Hall

Vesta Cawley turned to the city bureaucracy for help with a problem that didn’t matter to any of the other 900,000 residents of Dallas. But it should have mattered more to city hall.

By John Bloom

August 1, 1981

The Deal That Didn’t Work

Parceling out three new seats in Congress sounds like an easy job, but the Texas Legislature tried for two months and couldn’t do it.

By Victoria Loe

July 31, 1981

Angry Men

Texas Fathers for Equal Rights joined divorced men from all over the country to protest family courts that have always favored mothers in child custody cases.

By Gene Lyons

June 30, 1981

Behind the Lines

The war that won’t go away.

By William Broyles

June 1, 1981

The Plane the Pentagon Couldn’t Stop

West of Fort Worth, General Dynamics builds the F-16, a good little fighter plane that could have been great if the Air Force brass had kept their hands off it.

By Michael Ennis