Price Daniel was elected to more high offices than anyone in Texas history. He was speaker of the Texas House, attorney general, U.S. senator, governor, and supreme court justice. He also served in the cabinet of his Senate colleague, President Lyndon Johnson, who described Daniel as "the soul of honor." A personal friend of almost every president dating back to Harry Truman, Daniel left significant footprints across American history. He was credited with winning the largest states' rights settlement in United States history, was responsible for ridding Texas of organized gambling, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in one of the landmark cases of the civil rights movement, nearly succeeded in his attempt to abolish the electoral college as the method of electing presidents, was on the inside loop of many critical decisions which were made during the Vietnam War, led the largest narcotics investigation in the nation's history and, in the meantime, led in the passage of more legislation than any other governor in Texas history.
The last of old-time Texas governors, the Dayton-born maverick was in his prime with an unlit cigar clamped loosely between teeth and a fitted hat perched atop his head. He was one of several Baylor University graduates to serve as governor.
