Texas historical marker for the Ku Klux Klan trials

Daniel James Moody Jr. (June 1, 1893May 22, 1966), was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Originally from

Taylor, Texas Taylor is a city in Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census was 16,267, up from 15,191 as of 2010. History In 1876, the Texas Land Company auctioned lots in anticipation of the ar ...

, he served as the 30th governor of Texas between 1927 and 1931. At the age of 33, he was elected. He took office as the youngest governor in Texas history. After his 2 terms as governor, he returned to private law practice. He continued to prosecute and represent various functions of the

US government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, execut ...

later in life.

Early life

Moody was born on June 1, 1893, in Taylor, Texas. He was the son of Taylor's mayor, justice of the peace, and school board chairman, Daniel James Moody, who was one of the town's first settlers in 1876. His mother, Nannie Elizabeth Robertson, was a local schoolteacher when Moody married her in 1890. Moody Jr. was an alumnus of the University of Texas Law School and became a member of the

State Bar of Texas The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court. It is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in ...

at 21, in 1914. He began practicing with Harris Melasky in Taylor. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Moody served in both the

Texas National Guard The Texas Military Forces (TXMF) are the principal instrument through which the Texas Military Department (TMD) executes security policy for Texas, which has the second-largest population and border in the United States. The Texas Military Forc ...

as first a 2nd Lieutenant and then Captain and also in the

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as a 2nd Lieutenant.

Public service

In 1920, Moody served as Williamson County Attorney, a position he held for two years before becoming District Attorney in 1922. In 1923, Moody obtained an assault conviction against four members of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

for beating and tarring a white traveling salesman. The

Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the U.S. state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Histor ...

wrote, "These trials were considered the first prosecutorial success in the United States against the 1920s Klan and quickly weakened the Klan's political influence in Texas." The Klan was very powerful in Texas, with an estimated 150,000 members in the state, including the national

imperial wizard The grand wizard (sometimes called the imperial wizard or national director) is the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The title "Grand Wizard" was used by the first Klan which was fo ...

. Texas Klansmen included a US senator and Dallas, Fort Worth, and Wichita Falls mayors. The case was widely reported and gave him political momentum despite Klan opposition. After his election as

Texas Attorney General The Texas attorney general is the chief legal officer
of the

in 1925, Moody conducted investigations of the highly-corrupt

James E. Ferguson James Edward Ferguson Jr. (August 31, 1871 – September 21, 1944), known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. He was indicted and impeached during his second term ...

, whose wife, Miriam A. Ferguson, was serving as the governor of Texas. His investigation recovered $1 million for the taxpayers of Texas. In 1927, Moody defeated her in a runoff election and became the youngest governor of Texas. Suffragists' activism provided a major contribution to her defeat, as they rallied behind Moody and campaigned for him. The activist Jane Y. McCallum, whom Moody would later appoint as his Secretary of State, hosted the campaign headquarters in her own home. She and her colleagues hired a secretary, and they sent "letters, editorials, and pamphlets" to Texas women to ask them to vote for Moody. A conservative Democrat, he served two terms as governor before he left public office. He opposed the nomination of "wet," Catholic

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

in the 1928 presidential primaries, but unlike the Fergusons, he supported Smith against

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

, which saw Texas vote Republican for the first time in its history. Moody supported a reform program of state prisons, roads, and auditing system. In the 1930s, he became a staunch critic of US President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

’s

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Later life

In 1931, Moody resumed private law practice in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, after his last term as governor. A request from President Roosevelt made Moody help to prosecute income tax evasion schemes in Louisiana as a special assistant to the

US Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...

. Moody continued to represent Texas and its executives throughout the 1930s. He entered politics for the last time in 1942 for a Texas seat in the

US Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

. Moody came in third in the 1942 Democratic primary for the seat, his only political defeat, behind former Governors W. Lee O'Daniel and James V. Allred. The election was won by O'Daniel. Moody represented Coke R. Stevenson in his case against

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

over the hotly-contested 1948 Democratic senatorial primary electoral dispute, and Allred represented Johnson. In the 1950s, despite remaining a Democrat, Moody endorsed the Republican

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

for president in 1952 and 1956. Moody endorsed the Republican

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

for president in 1960. He and his wife spent their remaining years in Austin. He died in 1966 and was buried at the

Texas State Cemetery The Texas State Cemetery (TSC) is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, downtown Austin, Texas, Austin, the Capital (political), capital of the U.S. state of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revo ...

.Texas Politics Project
/ref>

Personal life

On April 20, 1926, he married Mildred Paxton of

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor County, Texas, Taylor and Jones County, Texas, Jones counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan ar ...

. The couple had two children, Daniel III and Nancy.

Legacy

The Williamson County Courthouse had the courtroom in which Moody tried his famous case against the Klan completely restored to its 1920s appearance and reopened in 2007. It is free and open to the public in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census, and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344. It is no ...

. There is also a statue of Moody installed outside the courthouse.

References

External links

Governor Dan Moody Museum
*
Texas State Historical AssociationGeorgetown Press announcement of Ken Anderson book "Dan Moody: Crusader for Justice"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moody, Daniel 1893 births 1966 deaths People from Taylor, Texas University of Texas School of Law alumni Texas lawyers United States Army personnel of World War I Texas attorneys general Democratic Party governors of Texas Politicians from Austin, Texas Burials at Texas State Cemetery 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Texas politicians