91¿´Æ¬

Submitted by Honors Northeast

Might Bill and Hillary Clinton have something to learn from . . . former Texas governors, Ma and Pa Ferguson? This question drove Austin KUT radio reporter, Joy Diaz to the Honors Northeast film bank, and then to a commentary that was broadcast across Texas by affiliated National Public Radio stations on September 27.

91¿´Æ¬ Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox wrote and aired the commentary. 91¿´Æ¬ † He noted that the political couples have many similarities. Both Bill Clinton, and Texas Governor #12?Jim, were Democrats, who came under a legal cloud of suspicion. 91¿´Æ¬ † Both had wives who first covered for their husbands to protect their family name, 91¿´Æ¬ †and then ran for office in their own right. In both cases, the husbands acted as campaign surrogates. 91¿´Æ¬ † The husbands coined important campaign themes with Bill Clinton, comparing Donald Trump?s candidacy to ?road rage,? and Jim Ferguson calling his wife?s opponent a ?coward,? and a ?sissy.? 91¿´Æ¬ † Both the Fergusons and Clintons relived a ?Bonnie and Clyde Scenario? working together to beat a legal rap, while gaining public empathy as a ?couple pitted against the world.?

Yox noted in his commentary that in one respect, the Clintons and Fergusons are dissimilar. 91¿´Æ¬ †The Fergusons, who were not associated with charges of infidelity, synchronized better. 91¿´Æ¬ †In fact as one Presidential Scholar in the midst of taking the honors Biotex 91¿´Æ¬ † seminar, Morgan Capps, noted, the Fergusons were a ?symbiotic super-couple.? 91¿´Æ¬ † Their photographs together exuded a compatibility that Texas voters found comforting.

Five scholars of Honors Northeast, along with Dr. Mary Hearron and Yox are bound for Seattle, Washington this October. 91¿´Æ¬ † Along with their attendance at the National Collegiate Honors Council, four have been invited as a panel to feature the Ferguson film.

NPR Radio commentaries involve edits, rehearsals, takes, and, if given from home, a special app. 91¿´Æ¬ †Yox made the short-time-frame deadline with help from Joy Diaz, Hearron, and Dr. Paula Wilhite.

The film content of Honors Northeast productions are entering into public discussion in other ways as well. 91¿´Æ¬ † In August and September, Yox published two articles in the 91¿´Æ¬ †East Texas Journal 91¿´Æ¬ †on leading figures of Northeast Texas history which also appear in honors films. This spring an essay on the film culture of Honors Northeast is due for publication in the journal,°Õ´Ç³Ü³¦³ó²õ³Ù´Ç²Ô±ð, 91¿´Æ¬ †published by the Texas State Historical Association.

 

College Whatley Enhancement Grant donors such as Jerald and Mary Lou Mowery have helped initiate the films. A support system of honors students, professors, other honors donors and 91¿´Æ¬ administrators have helped maintain the once-a-year productions.