Preston Smith

Preston Earnest Smith (March 8, 1912 – October 18, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and politician who served as the 40th governor of Texas from 1969 to 1973. A conservative member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 35th lieutenant governor from 1963 to 1969. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1945 and served until 1951 and to the Texas Senate in 1957.

Smith was born into a tenant farming family of 13 children in Corn Hill, a town in Williamson County, Texas, that has since been absorbed into nearby Jarrell. The family later moved to Lamesa, Texas, where Smith graduated in 1928 from Lamesa High School. He started his first service station while in college, to help pay his way through. In 1934, he graduated from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Staying in Lubbock, he founded a movie theater business and invested in real estate.

Smith was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1944 and then to the Texas State Senate in 1956.

Smith's inauguration on January 21, 1969, had what was called "the flavor of the South Plains". The Texas Tech University marching band led the parade just behind the marshal and the color guard. A mounted masked Red Raider rode with the band. Governor and Mrs. Smith, both Tech graduates, followed in an open convertible. Other Smith family members rode in the parade, followed by the new lieutenant governor, Ben Barnes. The band of Lamesa High School, Smith's alma mater, was the first among the high school groups. Before the oath taking, the first to be televised in Texas history, Smith had been feted with a $25-per-place victory dinner in the Austin Municipal Auditorium, now the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Governor Smith played a vital role in establishing both the medical school and the law school at Texas Tech University. He was also known for expanding teacher pay programs as well as early childhood funding which laid the groundwork for state-supported daycare and developmental programming. His administration also proposed the ambitious Texas State Water Plan of 1969, truly proving his dedication to the future of Texas.

In 1971 and 1972, Smith was embroiled in the Sharpstown scandal stock fraud scheme, which eventually led to his downfall. Smith lost his third-term bid for the governorship of Texas to Dolph Briscoe of Uvalde in the Democratic primary in 1972.

After leaving office, Smith returned to Lubbock, Texas, where he was active in civic and business affairs. Although he attempted a political comeback in the 1978 Texas gubernatorial election, he was defeated in the primary.

In his later life, Smith chaired the Higher Education Coordinating Board. He died in Lubbock, Texas, on October 18, 2003, at the age of 91.