Bob Bullock

Robert D. "Bob" Bullock (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999) was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. He climaxed his service as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1991–1999 during the terms of Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush.

After a stint as an assistant attorney general and in the private practice of law, Bullock returned to public life when he was appointed secretary of state, 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.

As state comptroller, Bullock was noted for his modernization of the office and for collecting certain taxes that had been previously uncollected for many years. The tax officials doing such duties became known as "Bullock raiders." Bullock was also the first elected state official to adopt an equal opportunity employment program. Bullock held the comptroller's office from 1975–1991, when he was easily elected to succeed retiring Lieutenant Governor William P. "Bill" Hobby, Jr.

As Lieutenant Governor, he professed a nonpartisan approach to lawmaking, often telling members of the Texas Senate to leave their politics at the door. Bullock unofficially endorsed Republican Governor George W. Bush's presidential campaign even before it got off 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, well-known in Texas, to have existed between Republican Bush and Democrat Bullock; the reporter apparently was asking whether Bush would be capable of forging a similar bi-partisan 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 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.

Born July 10, 1929, in Hillsboro, Bullock attended Hill College, Texas Tech University and Baylor. He received his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University in 1955 and held a law degree from Baylor University. Bullock's political papers are housed in the Baylor University Collection of Politial Materials. Bullock also served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Bullock's adult life was marred by alcoholism and divorce; he had a total of five marriages, although some of them were repeats. He stopped drinking in 1981 and remained active with Alcoholics Anonymous for the remainder of his life. Bullock died June 18, 1999, in Austin, Texas. He is buried in the Texas State Cemetery.

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