Ann Richards

Ann Richards (born September 1, 1933, Lakeview [now Lacy Lakeview], Texas, U.S.—died September 13, 2006, Austin, Texas) was an American Democratic politician who served as governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A prominent figure in that state’s politics, Richards gained national attention for her keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Throughout her career she fought for civil rights and championed what she called the “New Texas,” appointing an unprecedented number of women and minorities to high-level posts in state government.

Early life

Dorothy Ann Willis was born in Lakeview (now Lacy Lakeview), Texas. Both her parents were native Texans—her father, Robert (“Cecil”) Willis, was a pharmaceutical salesman, and her mother, Mildred Iona (“Ona”) Willis (née Warren), was a homemaker. After a stint in San Diego, where her father was stationed during World War II, the family returned to Texas in 1946, settling in Waco at the start of her high-school years. About that time she dropped her first name and became known by her middle name, Ann. Before becoming a high-school state debate champion, Willis attended Girls State, an annual mock-government assembly focused on civics and leadership, and served as a Texas delegate to the Girls Nation national event in Washington, D.C. She later credited her experience at Girls State with igniting her interest in government and politics.

She attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, on a debate scholarship, during which time she married David Richards (divorced 1984), a classmate from Waco High School. After graduating from Baylor in 1954, Ann Richards received a teaching certificate in 1955 from the University of Texas at Austin. She then taught social studies and history at Austin’s Fulmore Junior High School. Between 1957 and 1963, she and her husband had four children—Cecile, Dan, Clark, and Ellen. The family moved on several occasions—and for a time lived in Washington, D.C., where David Richards was a staff lawyer with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights—before permanently settling in Austin in 1969.

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Political organizer

While raising her children, Richards was an active volunteer in local and statewide Democratic politics. She worked on Ralph Yarborough’s unsuccessful campaigns for governor (1952, 1954, and 1956) and his successful bid for the U.S. Senate in 1957. She also volunteered with Henry B. González’s failed gubernatorial campaign in 1958. In the early 1960s Richards joined with a group of like-minded women to found the organization North Dallas Democratic Women. In her autobiography, Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places (1989), Richards described the impetus for the group’s formation: “The regular Democratic Party and its organization was run by men who looked on women as little more than machine parts.” Her commitment to supporting women in politics included managing a few local campaigns and training female candidates and their campaign managers. In 1972 Richards managed the successful state assembly campaign of Democrat Sarah Weddington, who had argued Roe v. Wade (decided 1973)—to legalize abortion—before the U.S. Supreme Court. And in 1974 Richards assisted in the campaign of Wilhelmina Delco, who became the first African American to represent Austin in the Texas legislature.

In 1976 David Richards was approached to run for Travis county commissioner. He declined, but, with his encouragement, Ann Richards entered the race and won. She held that position until 1982, when she was elected state treasurer, becoming the first woman elected to a statewide office since 1932. Richards was reelected in 1986.

National politics and the governor’s office

Richards, who was known for her sharp wit, gained national attention for her keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, held in Atlanta. Employing disarming, folksy Southern speech, she used humor to point out that in the 160-year history of the convention only two women—herself and another Texan, Barbara Jordan—had made the keynote address. “But, if you give us a chance,” she said, “we can perform. After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.” Richards also poked fun at George H.W. Bush, who would become the Republican presidential candidate, portraying him as being unable to relate to average Americans. “Poor George. He can’t help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth.”

In 1990 Texas Gov. William P. Clements, Jr., declined to run for reelection, and Richards ran for and won the position with a campaign promise to bring more minorities and women into public office. Achievements during her four-year term included an increase in the number of law enforcement jobs held by African Americans and women, more funding for poorer schools, the introduction of a program for substance use disorder to the state’s prison system, and the creation of stronger penalties for polluters. In 1994 Richards’s reelection bid was upset by challenger George W. Bush. To her detriment, Richards dismissed and belittled Bush during the campaign—who had never held public office—as unprepared and inexperienced. Bush, for his part, focused his message on issues important to an increasingly conservative electorate—government welfare, juvenile justice reform, and education. Although she served only one term, Richards reflected on her experience with positivity: “I did not want my tombstone to read, ‘She kept a really clean house.’ I think I’d like them to remember me by saying, ‘She opened government to everyone,’ ” she said in January 1995.

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After Richards left office, she remained a fixture in Texas and national politics, parlaying her experience into work as a political consultant and commentator. She coauthored several books, including, with Peter Knobler, Straight from the Heart: My Life in Politics and Other Places. Her daughter Cecile Richards founded the Texas Freedom Network in 1995 and led the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 2006 to 2018.