- Ernest O. Thompson
Infobox_Officeholder
name= Ernest Othmer Thompson
image_size = (349 × 475 pixels, file size: 152 KB, MIME type: image/gif)
caption= Ernest O. Thompson
office=Mayor of Amarillo, Potter County,Texas , USA
term_start=1929
term_end=1932
preceded=Lee Bivins
succeeded=Ross D. Rogers
office2=Texas Railroad Commission er
term_start=January 1 ,1933
term_end=January 11 ,1965
preceded2=Pat Morris Neff
succeeded2=Byron M. Tunnell
birth_date= birth date |1892|3|24
birth_place= Alvord, Wise County,Texas , USA
death_date= death date and age|1966|6|28|1892|3|24
spouse= (1)May Peterson Thompson (1924-her death in 1952)
(2) Myda Bivins Thompson (widow of Miles Bivins)
children=No children
party= Democratic
occupation=Businessman ;Attorney ;Oil expert
religion=Episcopal
footnotes=(1) Thompson’s name lives in Amarillo through Thompson Park, which houses Wonderland Amusement Park, and in thecapital of Austin, which contains the Ernest O. Thompson Building.(2) Thompson was widely recognized as a world authority on
petroleum andnatural gas production and conservation.(3) Thompson patronized the Western
artist Harold Dow Bugbee through showings of paintings in Thompson’s two Amarillohotel s.(4) Thompson served thirty-two years on the
Texas Railroad Commission , an oil and gas regulatory body originally established in 1891.(5) Thompson’s brief tenure as
mayor of Amarillo launched a major capital improvements projec and brought reductions in utility rates.(6) Thompson, an expert in
machine guns was given a battlefield promotion inWorld War I byGeneral John J. Pershing .(7) A longtime advocate of veterans causes, Thompson was a co-founder of the
American Legion .(8) In 1937,
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Thompson to the World Petroleum Conference.Ernest Othmer Thompson (
March 24 ,1892 –June 28 ,1966 ) was ageneral in theUnited States Army duringWorld War I , amayor of Amarillo,Texas , anattorney , abusinessman (hotel s, office buildings, andoil ), and a 32-year member of theTexas Railroad Commission . He was recognized as a world authority onpetroleum andnatural gas production and conservation. Thompson was also a patron of thearts ; his first wife was aMetropolitan Opera singer . [http://www.amarillo.com/stories/051900/his_thompsone.html Amarillo Globe-News: History Makers: Gen. Ernest O. Thompson 05/19/00 ] ]Early years and military service
Thompson was born to Lewis Oliver Thompson and the former [http://ohshitcp.pt.vu/ Flora Lee Agnes] Murray in Alvord in Wise County in what is now part of the
Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex . When he was ten years of age, his family moved to Amarillo, where the senior Thompson, operated adrug store . Thompson was already a successfulentrepreneur even as a teenager. [http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=1&pers_id=2373 Ernest Othmer Thompson ] ] He graduated from Amarillo High School and attendedVirginia Military Institute in Lexington, and later theUniversity of Texas at Austin, where he earned alaw degree.During the Great War, Thompson became an expert in machine-gun tactics. In the
Meuse-Argonne campaign, he worked out a mass machine-gun firing technique and attained the rank oflieutenant colonel , having received a battlefield promotion from GeneralJohn J. Pershing . At twenty-six, he was the youngest lieutenant colonel in the Army. After the cessation of hostilities, Thompson remained inEurope to direct the stockpiling of German weapons with the Army of Occupation.In 1919, he was among the organizers of the
American Legion , which lobbies for various veterans’ causes. That same year, he attended the Paris Peace Conference, whereU.S. President Woodrow Wilson headed the American delegation, which also includedEdward M. House , arice magnate from Houston.In 1936, Thompson was named colonel of theTexas National Guard . He was promoted to commanding general in 1952 and was thereafter known as "General Thompson” though hisbiographer refers to him as "colonel".Amarillo businessman
On his return from
Europe to Amarillo, General Thompson practiced law and owned the Amarillo and Herring hotels. He maintained apenthouse suite atop the Amarillo Hotel, where he resided. The hotel was built in 1889.Laura Vernon Hamner , aWest Texas ranch historian , former school superintendent, and well-known civic leader, lived in Thompson’s Herring Hotel for many years. Thompson patronized the westernartist Harold Dow Bugbee , acurator of thePanhandle-Plains Historical Museum in nearby Canyon. He also built the first multi-story office building in Amarillo, called simply the Amarillo Building.Two marriages
In 1924, Thompson married the former May Esther Peterson (
October 7 ,1880 —October 7, 1952), aWisconsin native and a star of the Metropolitan Opera inNew York City who was twelve years his senior. The couple met in the FirstMethodist Church of Amarillo, where Thompson was her escort for a performance. In addition to the hotel suite in Amarillo, the couple lived in thecapital of Austin during much of the time that Thompson served on the Railroad Commission. They also maintained a summer home in Estes Park,Colorado . They had no children. [ [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/TT/fth48.html Handbook of Texas Online - THOMPSON, MAY PETERSON ] ] Mrs. Thompson died suddenly on her 72nd birthday. [ [http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=1&pers_id=2314 May Esther Peterson Thompson ] ]Thompson thereafter married Myda Bivins (1892–1978), [ [http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search ] ] the
widow of Miles Bivins, a prominent Amarillocattle man.Lee Bivins , the father of Miles Bivins, had been Thompson’s predecessor as mayor, having died in office after four years of service. Hence, Thompson’s second wife was the former daughter-in-law of the man who had preceded Thompson as mayor.Election as mayor
Though Thompson was a Democrat, the Bivins family became prominent Texas Republicans as the state adopted a
two-party system . Former State Senator andU.S. Ambassador toSweden Miles Teel Bivins of Amarillo was a grandson of the late Miles and Myda Bivins.Thompson was elected to the
nonpartisan position of mayor of Amarillo in 1928 on a platform advocating the reduction ofutility rates. On taking office in 1929, he established a competingmunicipal natural gas company and launched a successful consumerboycott oftelephone s to persuade the companies to lower rates.He also launched a major capital improvements campaign. He served as mayor for two two-year terms, until 1932, when he was appointed byGovernor Ross Sterling , a founder of the futureExxon Company, to the Texas Railroad Commission. A vacancy occurred when commissioner and former GovernorPat Morris Neff resigned to become the president ofBaylor University in Waco.On the commission, Thompson built his reputation as an oil and gas expert. He was elected to full six-year terms in 1936, 1942, 1948, 1954, and 1960. He resigned two-thirds into his last term, and Governor
John B. Connally, Jr. , namedByron M. Tunnell , former Speaker of theTexas House of Representatives as Thompson’s successor. Tunnell's departure from the House paved the way for Ben Barnes to become the youngest Speaker in Texas House history. [http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/history/h03.html RRC: RRC Chronology 1960-1979 ] ]Meanwhile, Ross D. Rogers followed Thompson as mayor and served throughout the remainder of the 1930s, when Amarillo was hard hit by
drought during theGreat Depression .Authority on oil
Under Thompson's guidance, the Railroad Commission developed conservation and production measures that brought order to the chaotic
East Texas oil field in the 1930s, where oil prices fell from $1.10 to 10 cents a barrel.Thompson long opposed
nationalization of the petroleum industry and worked to establish the Interstate Oil Compact, having served three terms as chairman of the group. He was one of the first to warn the industry against reliance onimport s in time of war, a prophecy which bore fruit with theGulf War of 1991 and the continuingWar on Terrorism .In 1937, U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt sent Thompson to the World Petroleum Conference inParis, France . With the outbreak of World War II, Thompson briefly rejoined the Army before returning to Texas to ensure oil supplies for Allied forces.In 1951, Thompson was honored by several
trade association s: the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Texas Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and the American Petroleum Institute, which awarded him the "Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement."Promoting the Texas Railroad Commission
Thompson did much to enhance the credibility of the Railroad Commission, which had been created in 1891 during the first administration of Governor James Stephen Hogg. He and his wife relocated to Austin, where the commission meets and conducts its business. He tried to build public support for Railroad Commission services. At every opportunity, he promoted Texas oil and the idea that regulation would enhance, not hamper, the free-market. Regulations, however, increased the price of oil by holding back production but promised steady supplies in the future. [http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/railroad/power/page1.html Hazardous Business - The Power Years - Page 1 - Texas State Library ] ]
Both the petroleum conservationists and the major oil companies received a system of mandated oil-production levels known as prorationing. The Railroad Commission determined how much oil could be produced monthly in accord with market demand. This practice permitted
price-fixing by major oil companies and conservation of Texas’ reserves. The tens of thousands of independent oilmen who owned most of the East Texas fields opposed prorationing but were reconciled to Thompson’s system when they realized that the commission would allow narrow spacing of wells, a policy which favored the smaller independent producers.In 1930, the Railroad Commission employed 69 persons; by 1939, it had 566 employees working in multiple divisions. Thompson sought to hire new graduates from the state’s
geology andpetroleum engineering schools. He knew nost of those young people would move to higher-paying jobs in the private sector. However, he believe that they would promote the mission of the Railroad Commission because of their prior employment.In 1944, Thompson moved to protect Texas interests by leading the opposition to the Anglo-American oil
treaty in theMiddle East . This pact would have formed a commission dominated by the major oil companies to assess post-war demand for Mideast oil and authorized productionquota s. Thompson,Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes , and the independent oil companies opposed the idea of giving the major companies so much control over global marketing and production. The treaty eventually failed, but the competition from Mideast oil would continue.Two gubernatorial campaigns
Thompson twice ran for governor of Texas, having lost the Democratic nomination both times to
W. Lee O'Daniel , apopulist radio announcer and salesman originally fromOhio and laterKansas . Thompson was believed to have been the leading candidate in 1938 until O’Daniel made his last-minute entry. O’Daniel won the nomination, 573,166 votes (51.4 percent ) to Thompson’s 231,630 (20.8 percent). The remaining 27.8 percent was divided among eleven other candidates.http://www.texasalmanac.com/politics/gubernatorial.pdf] In the 1940 primary, held when the state had two-year gubernatorial terms, Thompson offered proposals of aid to labor, the establishment of a public utility commission, and a nickel-a-barrel oil tax to pay for the state's old-age pensions. He noted that Texas oil was not limitless and was taxed less than was oil in several other states. Nevertheless, Thompson again finished second to O’Daniel, 645,646 (54.3 percent) to 255,923 (21.5 percent). Also in the race was controversial former GovernorMiriam Ferguson , who received 100,578 votes (8.5 percent). The remaining 15.7 percent was divided among four other candidates."Pappy" O’Daniel, as he was known, resigned in his second abbreviated term and narrowly won aspecial election to theUnited States Senate , having defeated thenU.S. Representative Lyndon B. Johnson , on the death of SenatorMorris Sheppard of Texarkana.Thompson's legacy
Thompson served on the boards of
Texas Tech University in Lubbock and his "alma mater ", VMI. He was a member of St. Andrew'sEpiscopal Church, theMasonic lodge , theShriner s, and the AmarilloRotary Club .On his retirement from the Railroad Commission, the
Texas State Legislature designated the former Tribune Building as the Ernest O. Thompson Building at Colorado and West Tenth streets. It was the tallest building constructed in Austin during the 1940s. [ [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=ernestothompsonbuilding-austin-tx-usa Ernest O. Thompson Building, Austin / Emporis.com ] ]After Thompson’s death, the
Texas Historical Commission placed a marker to honor him in the convert|610|acre|km2|sing=on Thompson Park, which the city had already named for its former mayor. The park, located off Dumas Drive in north Amarillo, houses Wonderland Amusement Park, a smallzoo , a lake, a ball park, agolf course , and facilities forpicnicking . [ [http://www.planetware.com/amarillo/thompson-park-us-tx-amtp.htm Thompson Park, Amarillo ] ]James Anthony Clark penned the biography of Thompson, "Three Stars for the Colonel: A Biography of Ernest O. Thompson" in 1954. It was published by
Random House in New York City. [ [http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/bookbs/011197a.shtml Three Stars for the Colonel: The Biography of Ernest O. Thompson, Father of Petroleum Conservation - CLARK, JAMES A ] ]Thompson is buried in the
Texas State Cemetery in Austin beside his first wife, May. In 2001, Thompson was incuded among the "100 Most Influential People of the High Plains", as compiled by the "Amarillo Globe-News ".Overall, Thompson’s main legacy is perhaps his dogged attempt to keep his state's oil-based wealth within Texas.In 1957,
Sam Rayburn of Texas, Speaker of theUnited States House of Representatives , told a U.S. Senate committee which was investigating a shortage of American oil production at the time, that “in my humble opinion, the general knows more about oil than any [other] man in the world." Thompson used the occasion to explain how Texas policies had deliberately reduced production to benefit the independent oil producers. The lack of production, moreover, he maintained, was "a myth." [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936869,00.html?promoid=googlep Not so Villainous - TIME ] ]References
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