Patrick L. Cox is an American scholar of Texas history and former journalist.

Biography

Early life and education

Cox grew up in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas and studied history at

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. He graduated with a BA in 1974. After graduating, he founded ''The Wimberley View'', a local newspaper, with his mother and became its editor. Cox campaigned for

Dan Kubiak Daniel James Kubiak (March 19, 1938 – August 30, 1998) was an educator and businessman from Rockdale, Texas, who served as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1969 to 1983 and again from 1991 until his death in 199 ...

during his bid for

Texas Land Commissioner The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is a state agency of the U.S. state of Texas, responsible for managing lands and mineral rights properties that are owned by the state. The GLO also manages and contributes to the state's Permanent School Fund ...

in the early 1980s. Kubiak lost to his opponent

Garry Mauro Garry Mauro (born February 21, 1948) is an American politician who served four terms as Land Commissioner of Texas from 1983 to 1999, during the administrations of Governors Mark White, Bill Clements, Ann Richards, and George W. Bush. He is als ...

, who was impressed by Cox's work and hired him as assistant land commissioner. He served in the position for several years, until he decided to resume his studies and enrolled in

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

(then called Southwest Texas State). He received an MA in history in 1988, and was the first recipient of the Bill R. Brunson Research Award in 1989. He later received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from University of Texas at Austin in 1996.

Academic career

Cox has authored numerous books on Texas history. He is the assistant director of the

Dolph Briscoe Center for American History The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History is an organized research unit and public service component of the University of Texas at Austin named for Dolph Briscoe, the 41st governor of Texas. The center collects and preserves documents and a ...

at University of Texas. He authored ''Ralph W. Yarborough: The People's Senator'', a 2001 biography of Texas Democratic senator

Ralph Yarborough Ralph Webster Yarborough (June 8, 1903 – January 27, 1996) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a Texas Democratic politician who served in the United States Senate from 1957 to 1971 and was a leader of the progressive wing of his p ...

. In 2005, he published ''The First Texas News Barons'', in which described the political and social impact of newspaper barons

George Dealey George Bannerman Dealey (September 18, 1859 – February 26, 1946) was a Dallas, Texas, businessman. Dealey was the long-time publisher of ''The Dallas Morning News'' and owner of the A. H. Belo Corporation. A plaza in Dallas is named in h ...

William P. Hobby William Pettus Hobby (March 26, 1878 – June 7, 1964) was an American politician, journalist, and publisher who served as the 27th governor of Texas from 1917 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 24th lieutenant gove ...

, Amon G. Carter, and Jesse H. Jones on Texas society. The book, which posits that newspapers exerted significant influence over the modernization and urbanization of 20th century Texas, received mostly positive reviews. In 2011, he began working as a historical consultant. He co-authored ''The House Will Come to Order'', a historical study of the political influence of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

, with Michael Phillips in 2011. He co-edited and contributed to ''Writing the Story of Texas'', published in 2013. He also contributed to Chuck Bailey's 2015 ''Picturing Texas Politics: A Photographic History from Sam Houston to Rick Perry''. In 2014, he was named as a Texas State Distinguished Alumnus. He was inducted by the

Texas Institute of Letters The Texas Institute of Letters is a non-profit Honor Society founded by William Harvey Vann in 1936 to celebrate Texas literature and to recognize distinctive literary achievement. The TIL’s elected membership consists of the state’s most resp ...

in 2019.

Personal life

Cox resides in

Wimberley, Texas Wimberley is a city in Hays County, Texas, United States. It is still predominantly a ranching area. The population was 2,839 at the 2020 census. History Wimberley started as a trading post settlement near Cypress Creek in 1848, the year Ha ...

with his wife Brenda. They have a daughter named Lauren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Patrick L. Historians of the United States People from Wimberley, Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni Texas State University alumni Political historians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American newspaper editors University of Texas at Austin faculty