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27-679: The Bullock Texas State History Museum is named after the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas Bob Bullock , who championed the preservation and exhibition of Texas history and worked to establish its creation. Bullock was the guest of honor at the groundbreaking ceremony for the museum in April 1999 and died the following June before the museum was completed. In 2018, the Bullock Museum unveiled its newly renovated long-term first floor Texas History Gallery titled Becoming Texas . The exhibition explores more than 16,000 years of Texas history beginning with one of

54-670: A statewide election in Texas. In 1973, Bullock first sought the Democratic nomination for Comptroller of Public Accounts. The octogenarian incumbent, Robert S. Calvert , soon withdrew from the contest when he gauged Bullock's strength. In November 1974, Bullock won the general election, defeating Republican Nick Rowe , a former Vietnam War prisoner of war . Bullock garnered 1,099,559 votes (71.61%) to Rowe's 419,657 votes (27.33%). Once sworn in as comptroller in January 1975, Bullock promised to modernize

81-414: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bob Bullock Robert Douglas Bullock (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Texas , whose career spanned four decades . His service culminated in his term as the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991, to January 19, 1999, during the term of Governor Ann Richards and

108-722: Is interred there at the Texas State Cemetery. Texas State Highway Loop 20 in Laredo is named the Bob Bullock Loop in his honor. The Laredo Energy Arena is located just off the Bob Bullock Loop. The Texas State History Museum, located a few blocks north of the Capitol Building in Austin, is named to honor Bullock's efforts in the establishment of the facility. Secretary of State of Texas The secretary of state of Texas

135-661: Is one of the six members of the executive department of the State of Texas in the United States. Under the Constitution of Texas , the appointment is made by the governor of Texas , with confirmation by the Texas Senate . The officeholder is the chief elections officer, the protocol officer for state and international matters, as well as the liaison for the governor on Mexican and border matters. The secretary of state offices are in

162-818: The James Earl Rudder State Office Building at 1019 Brazos Street in Austin ; the main building handles business and public filings, statutory documents, administrative code open meetings and the UCC. The secretary of state elections office is on the second floor of the James Earl Rudder Building. The executive offices are in Room 1E.8 in the Texas State Capitol . Under the Texas Constitution

189-401: The Texas Senate to leave their politics at the door. Bullock and Bush got along well, in part because Bullock got to lead an increasingly Republican legislature to agree to key laws and policies and, "when they passed, Bullock and House Speaker Pete Laney allowed Bush to claim some credit." Bullock unofficially endorsed Republican Governor Bush's presidential campaign even before it got off

216-539: The Texas State History Museum , located just to the north of the State Capitol in Austin. Opened to the public on April 21, 2001 (San Jacinto Day) after Bullock's death, it was named in his honor. The second-floor lobby of the museum features a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Bullock holding a giant gavel, next to a gallery of items and a video from his career in politics. His political papers are housed in

243-627: The United States Air Force during the Korean War from 1951 to 1954. Bullock graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Arts . He also graduated from Baylor University with a law degree in 1958. After Bullock began his career in public service as a member of the Texas House of Representatives , he resigned in October 1959 to practice law and later served as general counsel of

270-718: The Baylor Collection of Political Materials. Bullock's adult life was marred by alcoholism and divorce; he had a total of five marriages, although at least one of them was a repeat. He stopped drinking in 1981 and remained active with Alcoholics Anonymous for the remainder of his life. He married Amelia J. Hooks of Itasca in 1950 and divorced in 1978. He married Jan Felts Teague of Austin in 1985. He had two children from his first marriage, Lindy Bullock Ward and Robert Douglas "Bobby" Bullock Jr. He also had another daughter from his second marriage, Kimberly Teague. Bullock died at his home in Austin of cancer on June 18, 1999, and

297-527: The Bullock Museum is the Bullock IMAX and Texas Spirit Theatre which showcases current movie releases as well as films corresponding to the current museum exhibitions. This article related to Austin, Texas is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Texas museum-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a location in Travis County, Texas

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324-486: The Texas Automobile Dealers Association. He returned to public life when he was appointed Secretary of State of Texas , the state's chief elections and records officer, by Governor Preston Smith . Bullock soon left the post to prepare for a statewide race for state comptroller in the 1974 Democratic primary. He served for four consecutive four-year terms. He was one of the last Democrats to win

351-532: The Texas government lexicon. Bullock was also the first elected state official to adopt an equal opportunity employment program, a policy that Calvert had opposed. Also, Bullock was among the first elected officials to use computer technology in state government to cut costs and improve productivity. He was the winner of numerous national awards for his management skills, including the "Leon Rothenberg Taxpayer Service Award". As comptroller, Bullock's frequent and increasingly accurate forecasts on state finances allowed

378-840: The earliest known objects created by humans in the Americas, a projectile point discovered at the Gault archaeological site 40 miles (64 km) north of Austin. The exhibition also examines the early American Indian civilizations that cultivated the area prior to European arrival, European ambitions to colonize the land, and the global politics that influenced the growth of early Texas. The third floor explores land, culture and technology in Texas and includes sections dedicated to Texas ranching, oil, civil rights, science and space exploration, as well as Texas sports and music. The museum's Austin City Limits Theater features musical performance clips from

405-573: The first term of Governor George W. Bush . Bullock is among the last Democrats to win and/or hold statewide office in Texas. Robert Douglas Bullock was born in Hillsboro in Hill County on July 10, 1929, to Ruth Mitchell and Thomas Austin Bullock, a Hillsboro city engineer and manager. Bullock graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1947 and attended Hill College , a junior college , in 1949. He served in

432-495: The governorship during the 1980s, he set eyes on the lieutenant governorship when on June 1, 1987, longtime incumbent William P. "Bill" Hobby Jr. of Houston announced that he would not seek a sixth term. Bullock quickly announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor in September 1987. In 1990, Bullock was elected Lieutenant Governor, having defeated the 39-year-old Republican nominee, businessman Robert Mosbacher Jr. , of Houston,

459-493: The ground. At a November 8, 2006, post-election press conference, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman , who had covered Bush's tenure as governor, asked Bush if he thought then U.S. House Speaker -elect Nancy Pelosi resembled Bullock. The President replied that the reporter's question was an inside joke. The question was a thinly-veiled reference to the close working relationship between Bush and Bullock;

486-576: The legislature to budget more accurately. He also developed a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" to guarantee fairness, courtesy and common sense. Bullock was re-elected in 1978 virtually unopposed, garnering 1,288,320 votes (100.00%) since nobody bothered to run against him. In 1982 he defeated Republican Mike Richards, garnering 1,791,650 votes (58.02%) to Richards' 1,245,328 votes (40.33%). In 1986 Bullock had no Republican opponent; he defeated Libertarian George Meeks, garnering 2,416,658 votes (90.02%) to Meeks' 267,872 votes (9.98%). Although Bullock refused to seek

513-493: The long-running PBS television series based in Austin. The Bullock Museum offers a year-round calendar of programs and events. Large-scale community events include H-E-B Free First Sunday, Austin's celebration of World Refugee Day , American Indian Heritage Day, and Spooktacular. The museum also hosts shows and social gatherings, lectures and discussions, drop-in preschool programs, film screenings, and seasonal family activities each spring break and summer. A popular attraction at

540-443: The office. During his sixteen years in office, Bullock pledged fair but aggressive audits. He made statewide headlines with a long series of "raids" on businesses that had collected state taxes from customers for many years but had not turned them in to the state. Bullock had pledged to secure these owed taxes; the officials collecting them were known as "Bullock's Raiders". As an outgrowth of his tax collecting efforts, that term entered

567-498: The presiding officer of the Texas Senate . Bullock overhauled the ethics laws during his first term in an effort to restore public confidence in state government. He created the Texas Performance Review for the state comptroller to analyze spending at state agencies and recommended cost-saving alternatives. He helped consolidate all environmental agencies into one department in an effort to better serve Texans and protecting

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594-409: The reporter apparently was asking whether Bush would be capable of forging a similar bipartisan relationship with the members of the new Democratic legislative majority in the U.S. Congress. Bullock was renowned for his blunt and sometimes politically incorrect speaking style, but also for his trademark closing line "God bless Texas". A lover of Texas history, he was instrumental in the establishment of

621-600: The secretary of state is, with the governor, the lieutenant governor , the comptroller of public accounts , the commissioner of the Office of General Land and the attorney general , one of the six members of the Executive Department. Of these offices all are elected by the voters in statewide elections except the secretary of state, who is nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. The secretary of state administers

648-484: The son of the sitting United States Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher . Bullock received 2,002,360 votes (51.69 percent) to Mosbacher's 1,741,893 votes (44.97 percent); he took office on January 15, 1991, as Democrat Ann W. Richards became the state's second female governor. In 1994, Bullock was easily elected to a second four-year term over Republican Harold "Tex" Lezar; Bullock received 2,631,843 votes (61.48 percent) to Lezar's 1,648,848 votes (38.52 percent). Bullock

675-442: The state's natural resources. As the state's second-highest elected statewide officeholder, Bullock aggressively pushed through a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval before a state personal income tax could be enacted and requiring the money be earmarked for education, if voters approve the tax. He led efforts to modernize the Texas tax system and worked on state problems in tort reform, health and juvenile justice. Bullock

702-458: Was inaugurated for his second term on January 17, 1995, while Republican George W. Bush was sworn in as Texas's 46th governor , having unseated Ann Richards. Bullock did not seek election to a third term in 1998; he was succeeded by Republican Agriculture Commissioner (and later Governor) Rick Perry on January 19, 1999. Serving as Texas's 38th lieutenant governor, Bullock favored a hands-on management style that resulted in numerous achievements as

729-428: Was instrumental in finding a legislative solution to get Texas out of federal court lawsuits involving prisons and mental health. He was a leader in legislative efforts to revamp the state's educational funding system and ushered through a law that created the state's first comprehensive water conservation and management plan. As lieutenant governor, he professed a nonpartisan approach to lawmaking, often telling members of

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