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Texas
The French-owned SS Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate, explodes in the Texas City harbor, followed the next morning by the explosion of the SS High Flyer. The disaster kills almost 600 and injures at least 4,000 more. The concussion is felt 75 miles away in Port Arthur, and the force creates a 15-foot tidal wave. -
Texas
The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston admits its first black student. -
Texas
The US Supreme Court orders racial integration of The University of Texas law school. -
Texas
The Tidelands Bill is signed by Pres. Eisenhower, giving Texas the rights to its offshore oil. -
Texas
Texas women gain the right to serve on juries. -
Texas
Integrated circuit, developed by Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments, Dallas, is successfully tested, ushering in the semiconductor and electronics age. -
Texas
John Tower wins special election for US Senate, becoming the first Republican senator from Texas since Reconstruction. -
Texas
NASA opens the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. The center moves to a new campus-like building complex in 1964. It is renamed Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center on Aug. 17, 1973. -
Texas
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas; vice president Lyndon B. Johnson succeeds to the office, becoming the 36th US president. -
Texas
Poll tax is abolished by the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution as a requirement for voting for federal offices. It is retained in Texas, however, for state and local offices. -
Texas
San Antonio native Ed White becomes the first American to walk in space -
Texas
Charles Whitman kills 17 people, shooting them from the observation deck of the main-building tower on The University of Texas campus in Austin. -
Texas
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is incorporated in Texas; its first national office is in San Antonio -
Texas
Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong transmits the first words from the surface of the moon: "Houston, the Eagle has landed. -
Texas
Securities and Exchange Commission investigates illegal manipulation of stock transactions involving Frank Sharp and his Sharpstown State Bank of Houston. -
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The Sharpstown Scandal results in the conviction of House speaker Gus Mutscher and two associates for conspiracy and bribery -
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Constitutional Convention meets to attempt to write a new state constitution. However, the delegates, comprising the membership of the 63rd Legislature, become mired in divisive politics, and the convention adjourns on July 30, 1974, without a document. -
Texas
William Clements becomes the first Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction. -
Texas
Several tornadoes kill 53 in West Texas, including 42 in Wichita Falls, and cause $400 million in damages -
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The National Republican Convention is held in Dallas. -
Texas
The Federal Home Loan Bank Board suspends deposit insurance for Texas savings-and-loan companies applying for state charters. Three years later, after uncovering widespread insider abuse at Texas lending institutions, federal regulators announce bail-out plans for many Texas thrifts and begin prosecution of S&L officials. -
Texas
The Federal Home Loan Bank Board suspends deposit insurance for Texas savings-and-loan companies applying for state charters. Three years later, after uncovering widespread insider abuse at Texas lending institutions, federal regulators announce bail-out plans for many Texas thrifts and begin prosecution of S&L officials. -
Texas
Democrat Ann Richards becomes the first woman governor of Texas in her own right. -
Texas
Siege that began on Feb. 28 ended, federal agents storm the compound called Mount Carmel near Waco, where cult leader David Koresh and his followers, called Branch Davidians, had reportedly been storing a large cache of assault weapons. The assault and ensuing fire kill four agents and 86 Branch Davidians. -
Texas
Former Texas Gov. George W. Bush elected President of the United States.
