Rapid City Chamber of Commerce

This afternoon I stood once again and viewed with overflowing heart that gratifying scene at the National Shrine of Democracy. As I studied the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln, my mind went back to their day in history, their contribution to the American way of life, and to the many things which they said and did in admonishing …

First Model Library of Criminology in the State of Texas

When prehistoric man first conceived the idea of law enforcement, the process was not complicated. Those who performed this function did not need to know about the law of evidence, the psychological processes of criminals, or the use of the polygraph. They did not worry about their public relations. They didn’t have to. All this primitive law enforcement agent needed …

The Lawyer – Freedom’s Advocate

It’s difficult to know what things ought to be said by one lawyer to a group of others in a few brief moments like these. There is hardly time to go into a deep subject and there is no deep subject that goes well with an after-dinner cigar anyway. So I’d like merely to share with you a few thoughts …

The Sin of Silence

I suppose that on such occasion as this, the Commencement speaker should make every effort to recall all of the learning that he was once exposed to under similar circumstances in order to show the graduates and the onlooking faculty that he is at least as clever, if not as learned, as those to whom he presumes to give advice. …

“Young Man with a System”

 Thank you for that kind introduction.  Seldom have I seen such an important subject handled so well and with such masterful self-restraint and understatement. I imagine President Shearer found himself in the same predicament as the Master of Ceremonies who got up and said, “Our next speaker needs no introduction.  Even if I reminded you who he is, you still …

Texas Sheriff’s Association

This is the first time I have had the opportunity of appearing before you as a private citizen and not as a fellow Law Enforcement officer. I’m very flattered that you have allowed me to come back and mingle with you socially, now that I’m only an ex Law Enforcement officer. I do miss the old life—the charged atmosphere, the …

Joint Civic Club Luncheon

Every year in our country forty or fifty peace officers lay down their lives in the line of duty. Many thousands of others go on about the dangerous and thankless job of guarding our homes, our lives, our property and our peace of mind. While we play, they work. They patrol the streets while we sleep. Day in and day …

National Association of Attorneys General

Thank you President Wyman for that kind introduction. Seldom have I seen such an important subject handled so well and with such masterful self-restraint and understatement. I imagine Lou found himself in the same predicament as the Master of Ceremonies who got up and said, “Our next speaker needs no introduction.  Even if I reminded you who he is, you …

Odessa College Commencement 1957

When Dr. Fly called me in January about being with you tonight, I began worrying about my subject. I thought I would talk to about some of things you should have learned here and will need as you go out in life. I suppose that on such occasion as this, a man should endeavor to appear as learned as possible …

The Sign on the Door

I have frequently observed that on the day of their graduation from high school, seniors don’t know whether they are coming or going. When I graduated, the commencement speaker noticed me in the audience and pausing in his address, he remarked that the flat hats worn by graduating students appear to by symbolic of what lies under them. But on …

1957 Arizona State Bar Convention

Thank you President Quail for that very flattering and truthful introduction. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything I enjoyed so much or agreed with so completely. However, Keith probably found himself in the same predicament of the master of ceremonies who had to introduce another obscure character from a small Texas town. He said, “Our next speaker …

Chamber of Commerce Installation Benefit

The Legislature has managed to find plenty of problems – and their share of solutions.  They are in their 127th day – the last seven days without pay.  The Session has cost over 1 1/4 million dollars or over $10,000 a day.  Each bill passed to date has cost the people $3,500, including the one to outlaw alligator hunting in …

Desk and Derrick Employers Appreciation Banquet

. . . But I had better get to moving faster or you will be plugging me for a dry hole. It is always with feelings of trepidation when I stand before an audience composed primarily of women, especially those who are smart enough to make their bosses feel like this is their night and maybe even feel like they …

National Federation of Press Women

Thank you for that very flattering and truthful introduction. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything I enjoyed so much or agreed with so completely. However, she probably found herself in the same predicament as the Mistress of Ceremonies who had to introduce another obscure character from a small Texas town by saying, “Our next speaker needs no …

Eastern New Mexico and South Plains Peace Officers Association

When I received the invitation to talk to you this morning, I began to think of the many improvements, both large and small, that have taken place in the last few years in the area covered by the Easter New Mexico and South Plains Peace Officers Association. I have been very pleased to see a number of law enforcement agencies …

Gulf Coast Press Association

I tell you truly, it’s good to be a private citizen again—one of the nine million laughing, bragging characters who inhabit the great State of Texas. Texans continue to amaze the world with their energy and expansive living. They are drilling 25,000 oil wells a year, running 292,000 farms and 11,000 factories, carrying 14 billion dollars in life insurance, keeping …

No Place for Silent Partners

I think it only proper at the outset of my thoughts with you tonight to pay tribute to the founders of the Parents and Teachers movement that has been of such tremendous benefit to the cause of freedom and humanity. I have always thought that the history books are snobbish in their treatment of human events. They tend to exclude …

Our Debt to God and Caesar

The purpose of the Christian Church’s Christian Men’s Fellowship group is two-fold: first, to give us the opportunity to visit with and become better acquainted with our fellow members; second and even more important, to call attention to the fact that every Christian layman is equally responsible with his minister for proclaiming the Gospel, for ministering to the needs of …

Longview Y.M.C.A. Banquet

In a dry-goods store in London in 1844 a little group of working men used to gather at lunch time for a few words of prayer. The group was led by a man named George Williams, who wanted to do something for his fellow workers. Out of those little noon-time meetings there grew an organization called the Young Men’s Christian …

The Future of State Government—If Any

No two organizations have done as much to encourage the intelligent participation of citizens in public affairs as have the league of Women Voters and the Jaycees. They have both worked hard at getting citizens to pay their poll tax and to vote when election time rolls around. The League sponsors a presentation of objective and impartial information on the …

Levelland Chamber of Commerce

I do want to think with you briefly of a few matters of vital Importance to Texas and Texans. I know that you were happy to see the democratic processes restored to the people of Duval County last year after a long, hard, bitter fight of six years duration. There were over four hundred legal actions in and out of …

Nacogdoches Daughters of the American Revolution

In the last half century modern communications and transportation have reduced this country to a fraction of its former size and have brought people very close together. We can fly from here to the nation’s capital in a few hours or reach it by telephone in a few seconds. That fact is both good and bad. It is good because …

The Lawyer – Freedom’s Advocate

Thank you for that very flattering and truthful introduction. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anything I enjoyed so much agreed with so complete1y. However, President Thomas probably found himself in the same predicament of the Master of Ceremonies who had to introduce another obscure character from a small Texas town who said, “Our next speaker needs no …

Kermit 4-H Club Awards Dinner

As long as men have lived on the earth, they have always tried to peer into the future. If any man could foretell the future, his fortune would be made. We used to have an old prophet back in Gladewater named Uncle Billy who could predict the future. He would predict some calamity and people would work so hard to …

Odessa Kiwanis

Forty-two years ago in Detroit, Michigan, Kiwanis was born under the motto—”We Build”. And since that date, you have been building!—better youngsters—better men—better communities—a better country. Kiwanis’ greatest strength is that its ideal is far outside itself. Men are not Kiwanians for the sake of being Kiwanians. Kiwanis is not an end in itself but a means to a much …

Young Man with a System

In the first half of our century an organization was born which was destined to become one of the most vital and significant currents in the stream of American life. At thirty-seven years of age that organization—the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce—is well on its way to the fulfillment of that destiny, the destiny that was not a matter …

Post Chamber of Commerce Banquet

I have been vitally concerned for a number of years about the steady and unnecessary encroachment of a centralized federal bureaucracy upon the historic rights of our state and local governments. The forty-eight stars in the constellation of American states are being eclipsed by the sun that rises out of federal bureaus and sets behind the Capitol dome. The Lone …