State Web Site

Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War II

Honors/Awards:  Bronze Star

ALLAN SHIVERS was born in Lufkin, Texas. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Texas, after which he became general manager of John H. Shary Enterprises and owner of Mission Times. His service as a Texas state senator was interrupted by World War II, during which he was with the U.S. Army in England, North Africa, Italy, France, and Germany, completing his duty with the rank of Major. He went on to serve as Lieutenant Governor from 1947 until 1949, when he succeeded to the governorship upon the death of Beauford Jester. He was elected to three additional terms in his own right, endorsed in one election (1952) by both the Democratic and Republican parties. During his administration, appropriations for the state's hospitals were increased and a tax was levied on natural gas to cover rising state expenditures. In addition, a Commission on Higher Education was created to coordinate Texas state colleges and universities. At the same time, scandal developed over charges that funds of the Texas Veterans' Land Board, of which Shivers was a member, had been mismanaged. Shivers declined to run for reelection in 1956, instead returning to his business interests in Mission, Texas. He was buried in the State Cemetery in Austin.

Sources:

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. H. New York: James T. White & Company.

Texas State Library & Archives Commission

Governors of Texas, 1846-present