Price Daniel
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Texas statesman Price Daniel (1910-1988) was born in Dayton, Texas, the son of M.P. and Nannie Partlow Daniel. His career in state and national politics spanned six decades and included service in all three branches of state government. After graduating from Baylor Law School, Price Daniel established his law practice in Liberty before taking his first public office in the Texas House of Representatives in 1939. His strong record led to his election as Speaker of the Texas House in 1943. Returning to public life after service in World War II, Daniel was Attorney General of Texas from 1947 until 1953. The young Attorney General vigorously defended Texas' ownership of its tidelands against federal encroachment, an issue he took with him to the United States Senate upon his election to that body in 1952. Successful in sponsoring legislation to confirm Texas ownership of the tidelands, Daniel was elected Governor of Texas in 1956 and was reelected in 1958 and 1960. Among his many accomplishments as Governor, he championed the preservation of historic state documents and construction of the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in Austin. During the next three decades, Price Daniel served as head of the Office of Emergency Preparedness under President Johnson, as an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court and as a member of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. At the time of his death on August 25, 1988, Daniel had held more offices of public trust than any other individual in Texas history. (2004)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Few Texans held as many offices as Price Daniel, whose career touched all three branches of state government across six decades. After Baylor Law School and service in World War II, he became a forceful attorney general, defending Texas' claim to its offshore "tidelands" all the way into the U.S. Senate, where he won the fight to confirm state ownership. Elected governor three times beginning in 1956, he championed the preservation of Texas' historic records before later serving on the state supreme court and in the Johnson administration.
Why it matters
Daniel's long career links mid-century Texas to national politics and, fittingly for a marker, reflects a public servant who worked to preserve the very historical record the state now honors.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Price Daniel was born in 1910 and grew up in the piney country of southeast Texas, where oil, timber and farming shaped local life. He came of age during the Great Depression and entered politics as Texas was moving from a rural, agricultural state toward a more urban, industrial one.
The defining issue of his early career came out of that change. After World War II, oil and gas beneath the shallow coastal waters, known as the tidelands, became very valuable. The federal government claimed authority over those submerged lands, and Texas insisted they belonged to the state. The dispute was more than legal. Royalties from state lands helped pay for public schools in Texas, so many Texans saw the fight as a defense of their children's education and of the terms on which the former Republic had joined the Union.
Daniel's long career, from the late 1930s into the 1980s, ran alongside Texas' rise as a national political power, a period in which Texans such as Lyndon B. Johnson reached the top of national politics.
People & events
Daniel graduated from Baylor Law School, opened a law practice in Liberty, and won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1939. He rose quickly. Within a few years his colleagues made him Speaker of the House, an unusual honor for so young a member. He then served in World War II. When he returned, voters elected him Attorney General, and he held that office from 1947 to 1953.
As Attorney General he took up the tidelands cause and pressed Texas' claim to its offshore lands against federal encroachment. When he won election to the U.S. Senate in 1952, he carried the fight to Washington. There he helped sponsor the legislation that confirmed Texas' ownership of the tidelands. Few politicians get to finish in one office a battle they began in another.
Texas then elected him Governor in 1956 and reelected him in 1958 and 1960. Among the accomplishments the marker singles out is his work to preserve the state's historic documents, including support for the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building in Austin. Even after leaving the governorship he kept serving: as head of the Office of Emergency Preparedness under President Johnson, as an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and as a member of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. By his death on August 25, 1988, he had held more offices of public trust than anyone else in Texas history.
Its place in the American story
The tidelands controversy was one of the major state-versus-federal disputes of the postwar era. It raised a basic question in the American system: where does a state's authority end and the nation's begin, especially when valuable natural resources are involved? Daniel's role, first as a state lawyer and then as a U.S. senator, places a Texas story at the center of that national debate.
His career also shows a kind of public life that is now rare. He served in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of state government, and also at the federal level. That breadth gave him an unusually full view of how government works, and it links mid-century Texas politics to the larger story of the Johnson years.
The marker also notes his commitment to keeping the historical record. Archives are where a society's memory is kept: land titles, laws, letters and maps. A public official who fought to preserve them made the work of every later historian possible, including the history told on markers like this one.
If you visit
This marker stands in the Capitol area of Austin, among the buildings where Daniel spent much of his working life. The pink granite Capitol dome rises nearby. It is worth looking for the Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building, which the marker credits Daniel with championing, since the archive itself is part of his legacy.
The Capitol complex is easy to explore on foot, and it suits a family day of Texas history: the Capitol and its grounds, the surrounding state buildings, and the museums within walking or short driving distance downtown.
As you stand here, think about what the marker says Daniel cared about. The papers and maps kept in the state archives are the raw material of nearly every historical marker in Texas. It is a fitting place to remember the man who helped give them a permanent home.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Price Daniel
- · President Lyndon B. Johnson
Themes & tags
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