Chicken Ranch anniversary: Happy birthday, Dolph!

The Texas governor who sidestepped his way into history

On this date in 1923, Dolph Briscoe, who would go on to become the 41st governor of Texas, was born. He would've been 102 today. Briscoe, a long-time Uvalde rancher, is generally remembered fondly from his terms as governor for being a decent guy. But his administration did earn some dubious distinctions. Briscoe was the last Texas governor to serve a two-year term and the first to serve a four-year term. He undermined two efforts to rewrite Texas' abysmal constitution (which remains a trainwreck to this day). Briscoe once appointed a dead man to the State Health Advisory Commission, and if what I've heard is true, called a press conference in the aftermath to reassure the press and public that he hadn't lost his grip on sanity.

But what most people remember him for--and which doesn't appear in most official biographies--is that he is the governor who ordered the closure of the infamous Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange. Ironically, Briscoe had no actual legal authority to order the Chicken Ranch (or any other brothel, for that matter) closed. But he did, hoping nobody would call his bluff. Fayette County Jim Flournoy certainly knew the governor had no authority to do so, but acquiesced to Briscoe and effectively ended a surreal two-week media circus that captured the attention of Texas as well as the rest of the country. For his efforts, he was famously lampooned by Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Governor Briscoe died June 27, 2010, after ignoring my interview requests for the better part of a year. He's have been 102 today. Happy birthday, Dolph!

For those who are curious about such things, all of this and more is included in the the revised, updated and expanded second edition of my book, available now.