howeenterprise.com
Monday, July 22, 2019
Page #13
Texas History Minute Continued from last week...
Johnson in a cramped compartment aboard the plane with the grieving aides and next to Judge Sarah T. a traumatized Jackie Kennedy still Hughes had never in clothes covered in her met Sen. Lyndon husband’s blood. Only Johnson in person photographs from reporters and an before 1960, she audio recording exist as no TV Dr. Ken told an interviewer cameras were present. In that Bridges in 1968. She met horrible moment, Hughes became him for the first the only woman to swear in a time in 1960 as the vice-presidential president – and the only Texan. nominee, campaigning for him in In 1964, the Federal Bar the hard-fought contest for Texas Association presented its first that year. She was already a respected figure across Dallas and Outstanding Woman Jurist Award to Hughes. That year, she suffered in the legal community, already having served as a legislator and a a devastating loss as her husband state judge for nearly a quarter of a of 42 years, George Hughes, by then a distinguished attorney for century. Hughes and Johnson would become close friends and the the Veterans Administration, died. next phase of her life emerged Hughes continued to deliver a because of his influence. number of important decisions as At 65, when most people were federal judge, including upholding preparing to retire, Hughes was determined to move up the ladder. federal civil rights laws regarding equal pay for women in 1969 and She had failed in earlier election quests for Congress and the Texas demanding improved conditions Supreme Court. In 1961, she asked for inmates at the Dallas County Jail several years later. She her old friends Vice-President closely oversaw the Lyndon Johnson and Sen. Ralph Yarbrough to recommend her for a improvements made to the jail for safety and hygiene, and these federal judgeship. Johnson, improvements became a model Yarbrough, and House Speaker for many other communities. She Sam Rayburn of Bonham lobbied President John F. Kennedy for the gave speeches across the state, appointment. Several women had often calling for more women to get involved in law and was part been appointed to the federal of the dedication of the Lyndon B. judiciary already, starting with Judge Kathryn Sellers in 1918, but Johnson Presidential Library in Austin in 1971. the issue that the American Bar Association and even Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had was She retired from her full-time status in 1975 at age 79. A stroke her age. President Kennedy nevertheless was impressed by her forced her to retire entirely in accomplishments and appointed her 1982. She spent her last years in a Dallas nursing home, where she to the newly-created position of died in April 1985 at age 88. Federal Judge for the District of North Texas. In 1981, the Sarah T. Hughes It was that fateful trip to Dallas by Scholarship was established in her honor. The scholarship, which President Kennedy on November aims to attract more minority 22, 1963, that thrust her into the national spotlight. After Kennedy’s students to law is a full-tuition scholarship to Dallas-area law assassination, Johnson, fearing a Soviet plot, insisted on being sworn schools; and more than $2 million has been raised in support of it. in as president immediately and After her personal papers were asked for Hughes. The judge was preparing to leave for Austin to see donated to the University of North Kennedy’s speech that night when Texas, the university opened the Sarah T. Hughes Reading Room Barefoot Sanders, a United States Attorney and future federal judge, at its main library. The Federal contacted her and asked her to come Bar Association named a civil rights award in her honor as well. to Love Field to swear in Johnson aboard Air Force One. Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He Hughes administered the oath to can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail.com.
This sign coming to a downtown wall near you.
This sign coming to a downtown wall near you.
