Fontaine Maury Maverick Sr. (October 23, 1895 – June 7, 1954) was a Democratic member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, representing the 20th district from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1939. He is best remembered for his independence from the party and for coining the term "

gobbledygook Gibberish, also called jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense. It may include speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, or language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outside ...

" for obscure and euphemistic bureaucratic language.

Background

Maverick was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

, Texas, the son of Albert and Jane Lewis (Maury) Maverick. His grandparents were

Samuel Maverick Samuel Augustus Maverick (July 23, 1803 – September 2, 1870) was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term "maverick," first cited in 1867, which means "indepe ...

, one of the signers of the

Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and was forma ...

and the source of the word

maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bure ...

, and Mary Ann Adams Maverick. He studied at Texas Military Institute, the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

, and the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. Maverick's ancestor is Samuel Maverick (colonist), who is one of the earliest settlers of Massachusetts, one of the largest original land owners, and the first to bring slaves to Massachusetts.

Career

Early years

Maverick was admitted to the bar in 1916 and practiced law in San Antonio. He was a first lieutenant in the infantry in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and earned the

Silver Star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

and the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. He served with the

28th Infantry Regiment Since the establishment of the United States Army in 1775, three regiments have held the designation 28th Infantry Regiment. The first was a provisional unit that was constituted on 29 January 1813 and served during The War of 1812. The second ...

, part of the 1st Division, and was involved in the

Meuse–Argonne offensive The Meuse–Argonne offensive (also known as the Meuse River–Argonne Forest offensive, the Battles of the Meuse–Argonne, and the Meuse–Argonne campaign) was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along t ...

. In the 1920s, he was involved in the lumber and mortgage businesses.

Government service

From 1929 to 1931, he was the elected tax collector for

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Brau ...

. He was elected to the

Seventy-fourth Congress The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1935, ...

in 1934, with support from the Hispanic population of his district, and re-elected in 1936 to the Seventy-fifth. During his 1934 campaign, Maverick enlisted

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

, a then little-known congressional secretary, to work for him during the Democratic primary. In the House, he was an ardent champion of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

. He angered the conservative Democrats running the party back in Texas, including

John Nance Garner John Nance Garner III (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967), known among his contemporaries as "Cactus Jack", was an American Democratic politician and lawyer from Texas who served as the 32nd vice president of the United States under Fran ...

. Maverick was the sole Texas Democrat to vote for the Anti-Lynching Bill of 1937.TO PASS H. R. 1507, AN ANTI-LYNCHING BILL.
''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved October 7, 2021. He was defeated in the primary for a third term in 1938. He returned to Texas where he was elected

Mayor of San Antonio The following is a list of mayors of San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio operates under a council–manager form of government.Kriston CappsWhy Julián Castro's Record as Mayor of San Antonio Doesn't Necessarily Tell Us Much About His Future at HUD ...

, again with support from minority voters, serving from 1939 to 1941, when he was labeled a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

and defeated. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he worked for the Office of Price Administration and the

Office of Personnel Management An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific d ...

, and served on the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

and the Smaller War Plants Corporation.

Later years

After the war, he practiced law in San Antonio.

Personal and death

Maverick was a cousin of congressmen

Abram Poindexter Maury Abram Poindexter Maury ( , December 26, 1801 – July 22, 1848) was an American politician, who represented Tennessee's eighth district in the United States House of Representatives. He was a slaveholder. Biography Maury was born near Franklin ...

and John W. Fishburne of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

and nephew of congressman

James Luther Slayden James Luther Slayden (June 1, 1853 – February 24, 1924) was an American politician, cotton merchant, and rancher. He was elected from San Antonio to United States House of Representatives, serving eleven consecutive terms. Early life and educat ...

, who married Ellen (Maury) at a Maury home called ''Piedmont'' in Charlottesville, Virginia, now part of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. They are related to

Matthew Fontaine Maury Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806February 1, 1873) was an American oceanographer and naval officer, serving the United States and then joining the Confederacy during the American Civil War. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and i ...

, Dabney Herndon Maury, and the early and prominent Fontaine, Dabney, Brooke, Minor, Mercer, Herndon, Slaughter, and Slayden families of Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas. He married Terrell Louise Dobbs and had a daughter and a son, San Antonio newspaper editorialist Maury Maverick, Jr. (who died in 2003 at the age of 82). Maverick died on June 7, 1954. His widow later married the distinguished Texas author and historian Walter Prescott Webb.

Notes

References

Retrieved on 2008-01-25. *Doyle, Judith Kaaz. ''Out of Step: Maury Maverick and the Politics of the Depression and the New Deal.'' Ph.D. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1989. *Henderson, Richard B. ''Maury Maverick: A Political Biography.'' Austin:

Press, 1970. *Weiss, Stuart L
“Maury Maverick and the Liberal Bloc”
''Journal of American History'' 57 (March 1971): 880-95. *American Notes & Queries: Gobbledygook talk: Maury Maverick's name for the long high-sounding words of Washington's red-tape language, 1944. *''Tuscaloosa News'', of Alabama: The explanation sounds like gobbledeegook to me, 1945. * * ''Maury Family Tree'' (book) by Sue West Teague.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maverick, Maury 1895 births 1954 deaths People from San Antonio United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War I Mayors of San Antonio Texas lawyers Recipients of the Silver Star Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers TMI Episcopal alumni Military personnel from Texas