Henry Grover

Henry Cushing “Hank” Grover (April 1, 1927– November 28, 2005) was a conservative politician from the U.S. state of Texas best known for his relatively narrow defeat as the Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1972. Grover was born in Corpus Christi. He died in Houston of Alzheimer's disease.

Grover lived as a boy in San Antonio. A Roman Catholic, he graduated from the college-preparatory and all-male St. Thomas High School in Houston. He received his bachelor of arts degree in history and political science from the University of St. Thomas and his Master of Arts degree in the same subjects from the University of Houston. His master's thesis was on Colonel Edward M. House of Houston.

1972 gubernatorial run

Grover was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1960, 1962, and 1964 as a Democrat. In 1966, he switched parties and was elected to the District 15 of the Texas State Senate.

In the 1972 Republican gubernatorial primary, Grover led a field of five with 37,118 votes (32.6 percent). Houston businessman Albert Bel Fay ran second with 24,329 ballots (21.3 percent). Three other largely unknown candidates shared a surprisingly large 41.8 percent of the vote.

In an even lower turnout runoff primary, Grover defeated Fay (1913-1992), the Republican national committeeman from Texas (1960-1969). Grover received 37,842 votes (66.4 percent), some 700 more votes than he received in the first primary, to Fay's 19,166 (33.6 percent), or 5,000 fewer votes than he obtained in the primary. The Sharpstown bank scandal, which had damaged many of the state's Democratic leaders, worked to Grover's advantage, for he could depict himself as an untainted Republican nominee for governor. His uncompromising conservative, constitutionalist views may have hurt him among moderate voters in both parties.

Grover lost the general election by about 100,000 votes to the Democratic nominee, former state Representative Dolph Briscoe of Uvalde. Grover carried almost all of the state's urban centers. The final tally was 1,633,493 (47.9 percent) for Briscoe and 1,533,986 (45 percent) for Grover. Briscoe was a "minority governor" because he failed to garner a simple majority of the votes. The Hispanic La Raza candidate, then 29-year-old Ramsey Muñiz, received 214,118 votes (6 percent), nearly all believed to have been at Briscoe's expense. (Two other minor candidates shared 27,994 votes, or .8 percent.) Muñiz's support was insufficient to deny victory to Briscoe, but political analysts contend that Briscoe's margin was largely dependent on Hispanic voters in rural areas of south Texas who traditionally stuck with their Democratic nominees.

Grover's Catholicism was apparently not an issue with Texas voters. Had he been elected, he would have become the first Catholic governor of the State of Texas. Many believed that Texas had supported Republican Herbert Hoover in 1928 because opponent Alfred E. Smith was Catholic. Texas, however, had voted in 1960 for John F. Kennedy, the nation's first Catholic president.

On direction of GOP

Grover and Republican Senator John G. Tower disagreed over the focus of the GOP. Grover wanted the party to move in a populist direction to attract those who had previously favored Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, Jr., for president and combine those otherwise traditionally Democratic voters with the Republican base, consisting mostly of fiscal conservatives. Tower, epitome of the elitist Republican faction, favored a more moderate approach to expand the party by attracting middle-of-the-roaders who stressed "good government" and those with economically conservative views. While Grover lost his race, Tower was a relatively easy winner for a third term in the Senate over Democrat Harold "Barefoot" Sanders, a former federal judge. The Grover approach appeared to have been vindicated with the 1976 primary victory of former California Governor Ronald W. Reagan in the first ever Texas GOP presidential primary. Indeed, Grover supported Reagan in 1976 over Tower's choice, the late U.S. President Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Tower's approach was, however, consistent with the later successes in Texas of the two George Bushes. In his 1991 autobiography, Tower referred to Grover in only one paragraph. [cite book
last = Tower
first = John G.
authorlink = John Tower
title = Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir
origyear = 1991
origmonth = February
publisher = Little, Brown and Company
id = ISBN 0316851132
quote = Hank Grover won the gubernatorial nomination and, consistent with his style as an outspoken maverick, demanded the ouster of the [Republican] party chairman. Cooler heads prevailed, but the last thing I needed was a divided party. ]

1984 U.S. Senate campaign

Tower announced in the summer of 1983 that he would not seek a fifth term. Grover, who had disagreed with Tower on many issues, therefore, entered the Republican primary held in May 1984. He fared poorly in that race. In the first primary, Republicans nominated Congressman William Philip Gramm of College Station, another convert to the GOP. Also seeking the 1984 Senate nomination were Robert Mosbacher, Jr., of Houston, son of a future U.S. secretary of commerce, and conservative-to-libertarian Congressman Ron Paul of the district southwest of Houston. Gramm in turn defeated the Democratic nominee, then state Senator and later Congressman Lloyd Doggett, and went on to serve three terms in the U.S. Senate.

Challenges Texas' "Johnson law"

Grover's reputation as a gadfly to the establishment surfaced again in 1995. As a private citizen, he sued the Texas Republican Party on the grounds that an elections rule, approved by the legislature in 1960, which permits a person to run for the White House and another office at the same time, is unconstitutional. He sued then party chairman, the conservative Thomas Pauken to prevent Gramm from filing for both offices in 1996.

"It violates the spirit of representative government in the Texas Constitution," Grover said in his lawsuit, filed at 126th State District Court in Travis County.

The rule, named for Lyndon B. Johnson, allows a candidate to seek the presidency or the vice presidency and another office in the same election cycle. It was written in 1960 so that then U.S. Senator Johnson could run for re-election to the Senate as well as for president or vice president if he secured a national Democratic nomination. The Johnson rule was since used by former U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who ran for reelection in 1988 and was also the Democratic nominee for vice president. Several other states, including Connecticut with Senator Joseph Lieberman in 2000, also permit presidential and vice presidential candidates to seek other offices at the same time, usually the U.S. Senate being the preferred choice.

Former Republican Senator Phil Gramm may have benefited from the rule as well had he won his party's presidential nomination in 1996, but he withdrew from the presidential race even before the New Hampshire primary. Grover's suit went nowhere: the Johnson rule remains in effect in Texas.

1996 Republican Senate primary

Grover's filing of the suit could have been motivated too by his own decision to challenge Gramm for renomination in the 1996 Republican senatorial primary. Though he won the support of some Second Amendment groups, Grover finished last in the three-man primary, with just 72,400 votes (7.34 percent). David Young, who termed himself "more moderate" than Gramm, finished second with 75,463 (7.65 percent). Gramm polled 838,339 (85 percent). Gramm, a former college economics professor, then defeated the Democrat Victor Morales, like Grover a former school teacher, in the general election.

Political philosophy

The 1996 campaign offered a glimpse into Grover's later political views, largely compatible to those of former Republican presidential contender Patrick J. Buchanan. Grover proposed a $10-a-barrel oil import tax to, in his view, reduce American dependence on imported oil, raise revenue to cut the deficit, and provide an incentive for independent oil drillers to find new wells.

Grover proposed bringing home all American troops from Europe and placing them on the Mexican border from Brownsville to San Diego, California. He said that the military is needed to prevent illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

On abortion, Grover said, "I'm 100 percent pro-life." He said that abortion should be outlawed under all circumstances, even when the mother was raped: "As sad as those situations are, it's not that child's fault," he said. Speaking at Baylor University in Waco, Grover said that the most feminine thing a woman can do is give birth, adding that perhaps college-age women could not understand the full meaning of abortion.

Grover also said that he agreed with the 1996 government shutdowns, saying it was "the only time Congress has faced up to the fact that the nation is bankrupt." He applauded those freshmen Republicans in Congress (1995-1996) who did not waver and who demanded that the government stop reckless spending.

Obituary

Until his death, Grover resided in Houston with his wife, Kathleen D. Grover, the mother of his three sons and three daughters. The Grovers married in 1952. Prior to entering politics, Grover had been a U.S. history and civics teacher at Mirabeau B. Lamar Senior High Schooln Houston. "He was a fantastic teacher. Many of his students now live all over the country, and they would attest to his effectiveness as a teacher," Mrs. Grover, a California native who grew up in Houston, said.

His oldest son, Bernard D. Grover, who also graduated from St. Thomas High School, is known for his activism with the Convention Pro-Continuation of 1861, a moderate group devoted to Texas independence using the federal courts and Texas history and law.

Grover was a member of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Houston. He was cremated.

"My husband was not a politician. He was a statesman. His wonderful integrity worked against him in the political process," said Mrs. Grover. "I just try to put all the politics out of my mind," Mrs. Grover said.

Election history

Most recent election

1996

Election box begin no party
title=Republican Party Primary Election, 1996: U.S. Senator (Class 2) [cite web | url = http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe | title = 1996 Republican Party Primary Election | accessdate = 2006-12-19 | publisher = Office of the Secretary of State (Texas)] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Phil Gramm
votes = 838,339
percentage = 85.01
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Henry C. “Hank” Grover
votes = 72,400
percentage = 7.34
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = David Young
votes = 75,463
percentage = 7.65
change = Election box turnout no party
votes = 12,713
percentage =
change =

Previous elections

1972

Election box begin
title=Texas general election, 1972: Governor [Fact|date=February 2007] Election box candidate with party link
party= Democratic Party (US)
candidate = Dolph Briscoe
votes = 1,633,493
percentage = 47.91
change =Election box candidate with party link
party= Republican Party (US)
candidate = Henry Grover
votes = 1,533,986
percentage = 44.99
change =Election box candidate with party link
party= Raza Unida Party
candidate = Ramsey Muñiz
votes = 214,118
percentage = 6.28
change =Election box majority
votes = 99,507
percentage = 2.92
change = Election box turnout
votes = [Two other candidates shared 27,994 votes] 3,409,591
percentage = 100.00
change = Election box hold with party link no swing
winner = Democratic Party (US)Election box begin no party
title=Republican Party Primary Runoff Election, 1972: Governor [Fact|date=February 2007] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner =
candidate = Albert Bel Fay
votes = 19,199
percentage = 33.66
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Henry Grover
votes = 37,842
percentage = 66.34
change = Election box turnout no party
votes = 57,041
percentage =
change = Election box begin no party
title=Republican Party Primary Election, 1972: Governor [Fact|date=February 2007] Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Albert Bel Fay
votes = 24,329
percentage = 21.3
change = Election box candidate no party with winner
winner = ✓
candidate = Henry Grover
votes = 37,118
percentage = 32.6
change = Election box turnout no party
votes =
percentage = [Three other candidates accounted for the remaining percentage.] 100.0
change =

Notes

References

*John G. Tower, "Consequences", 1990
*http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=9223
*http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/mqs1.html
*http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe
*http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/95/12/06/lbj.html
*http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/aol-metropolitan/96/01/18/notebook.html
*"Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections"
*http://www.legacy.com/NYTIMES/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=16149533

External links

* [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2005_record&position=all&page=E2555 Grover's eulogy] introduced into the Congressional Record by Ralph Hall

Persondata
NAME=Henry Cushing Grover
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Hank Grover
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Houston, Texas politician
DATE OF BIRTH=1 April 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH=Corpus Christi, Texas
DATE OF DEATH=28 November 2005
PLACE OF DEATH=Houston, Texas