Robert Seale Calvert (April 27, 1892September 1, 1981) was the longest-serving

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...

, serving for 26 years. From 1909 to 1910, Calvert attended

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

-affiliated Howard Payne Junior College in Brownwood, Texas. On January 18, 1949, Calvert was appointed by Governor

Beauford Jester Beauford Halbert Jester (January 12, 1893 – July 11, 1949) was an American politician who served as the 36th governor of Texas from 1947 until his death in office in 1949. He is the only Texas governor ever to have died in office. Jester wa ...

to the position of

following the death of his predecessor, George H. Sheppard, who died in office. He was elected to a full term in 1950 and re-elected in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1972, serving for twenty-six years. When the

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

then

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

Eddie Bernice Johnson Eddie Bernice Johnson (December 3, 1934 – December 31, 2023) was an American politician who represented Texas's in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2023. Johnson was a member of the Democratic Party. Johnson was electe ...

, later a member of the

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

, filed a complaint with the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

(EEOC) in 1973, Calvert said in response, that Johnson was a "nigger woman who doesn't know what she is talking about." The EEOC ruled that racial discrimination could be inferred based on Calvert's response. In 1972, Randy Pendleton, a former legislator from

Andrews Andrews may refer to: Places Australia *Andrews, Queensland *Andrews, South Australia United States *Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places *Andrews, Indiana *Andrews, Nebraska *Andrews, North Carolina *Andrews, Oregon *Andrews, South ...

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

, and Jim Wilson, a former employee, ran against Calvert. There was a run-off between Calvert and Wilson, in which Calvert won. In 1974,

Bob Bullock Robert Douglas Bullock (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as the 38th lieutenant governor of Texas from Ja ...

announced that he would challenge the octogenarian comptroller and promised to reform operations of the office. Bullock was so aggressive that Calvert withdrew from the race, and Bullock was elected to the first of four terms. Calvert died in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

in September 1981.

Sources

1892 births 1981 deaths Howard Payne University alumni Texas Democrats Politicians from Austin, Texas American military personnel of World War I Comptrollers of Texas {{Texas-politician-stub