William 'Bill' Clements

William Perry 'Bill' Clements Jr. was born in Dallas in 1917. After working as an oilfield roughneck, he entered the drilling business and in 1947 helped create what became SEDCO, a major offshore-drilling company. President Richard Nixon appointed him deputy secretary of defense in 1973, and he remained in the post under President Gerald Ford. In 1978 Clements defeated Democrat John Hill to become the first Republican elected governor of Texas since Reconstruction, an important marker in the state's long partisan realignment.

Clements served from 1979 to 1983, lost reelection to Mark White, and then defeated White in 1986 to return for a second, nonconsecutive term from 1987 to 1991. His administrations emphasized management, budgeting, crime policy, education and relations with Mexico. Soon after his return to office, however, the Southern Methodist University football payment scandal became a major public controversy. TSHA records that while chairing SMU's board Clements and other leaders chose in 1984 to phase out illicit player payments rather than stop them immediately; he later acknowledged that decision was wrong. The scandal should remain part of the profile rather than being separated from his institutional leadership.

Clements's election showed that Republican statewide victory in Texas was no longer exceptional. The party transformation was not completed in a single election, but his two governorships helped normalize Republican competition for the state's highest offices before the GOP's later statewide dominance.

His business-style executive image was complicated by the governance failure at SMU. The university and Texas historical record make clear that he did not originate the pay scheme but knew payments were continuing and helped approve a phase-out rather than an immediate stop. Including that distinction avoids both exoneration and exaggeration.