The Dukes of Duval County

Anthony R. Carrozza is not the first author to examine George Parr's infamous efforts to steal Texas's 1948 Senate election for then-congressman Lyndon B. Johnson. That story has been well chronicled by others and is familiar to almost anyone interested in twentieth-century American political history. Parr—also known as the Duke of Duval County—functioned as a sort of political boss in south Texas, stuffing ballot boxes and generally flouting laws of every kind to control the political and economic direction of his region. In the summer of 1948, Parr used that power to coordinate the addition of 202 names to voter rolls in Alice, Texas—names that were added in alphabetical order, in the same ink, with the same handwriting. Two hundred of those individuals, including a few dead ones, voted for LBJ; two voted for Johnson's opponent, Coke Stevenson. Johnson ended up winning the election by eighty-seven votes, thus earning the dubious nickname, Landslide Lyndon. It is the stuff (no pun intended) of political legend and remains one of the most intriguing episodes in the fascinating history of the thirty-sixth president of the United States

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