|
Texas
| Features | People
The Vice Presidential
Library of
John Nance Garner
Or
Mr. Smith Goes to Uvalde
by Dabney Blewett |
Tucked
away in a book entitled The Best of H. Allen Smith (Trident Press,
1972) is the four-page story of a very brief visit to Uvalde,
Texas by the author to visit “Cactus Jack” Garner.
Mr. Garner, who retired from office in 1941 after serving 46 years
in public service, is most famous for his quote that reflected his
feelings on the highest office he had held. “The vice presidency isn’t
worth a boot full of warm piss.” (More sensitive readers may want
to substitute the word “spit” if they decide to use the quote. It’s
been done that way for years.) |
|
|
John
Nance Garner
Wikipedia |
|
Garner, who was born in Detroit
in North Texas (less than 60 miles from his good friend Sam
Rayburn) started his career in Uvalde,
where he raised sheep and pecans and eventually built the largest
house in that city. |
|
|
Garner
Memorial Museum in Uvalde
(Garner bequeathed his home for use as a museum)
TE photo |
| Somewhere
around 1900, when Garner was just getting started, a vote was taken
for the official state flower and John pushed hard for the prickly
pear cactus he had grown fond of in South
Texas. The softer, non-prickly Bluebonnet won and John soon became
known as “Cactus Jack.” |
Prickly Pear
Cactus
Photo courtesy Stan Shebs |
When H. Allen Smith visited, he found Cactus Jack on the back porch
of his house cutting the ends off pecans with a jackknife (for no
apparent reason). Garner offered the writer a drink and answered a
few questions like how many people lived in the 11-room house. At
the time it was just widower Garner and his cook who Garner jokingly
accused of being “a Russian spy” who “used to be a German spy.”
Garner didn’t offer any information. Instead, he told Smith that “anything
you want to know about me, you can get from Bascom Timmon’s book.”
Timmons was a nationally known newsman and a personal friend of Garners.
“I was always getting’ offers from people [to write a book] and I
got sick of it. So I says there’s only one way to put a stop to this,
and I got out all my papers and letters and everything and hauled
‘em out into the backyqard and made a bonfire outa them.” He had allowed
Bascom Timmons to write his book since he “was a friend and stood
a chance to make some money.”
Garner didn’t look up as the two left. Smith’s final thought on the
meeting was: “To Garner, the two of us were just a couple of pecans
with their ends cut off.”
Garner lived until 1967, dying just days before his 99th Birthday.
H. Allen Smith died in 1976, after retiring to Alpine,
Texas in 1967 after helping establish the First International
Chili Cook-off at nearby Terlingua.
His papers reside at Sul Ross State University. |
|
|
HOME
