"Bob Bullock was truly representative of what it means to be a Texas politician. He was a definitive force to be reckoned with as Lieutenant Governor, which allowed him to be a highly effective leader. Bullock and I had many moments of heated debate, yet we were able to build a lifelong friendship full of the utmost respect for each other. Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson have done an excellent job of providing a narrative of an important period of Texas history in which they were front row observers. Their book is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Texas and all of its years of turbulent politics."
—Ben Barnes, Lieutenant Governor of Texas, 1969-1973, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 1965-1969
"Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson have done a masterful job of getting inside the mind of Bob Bullock—the most complex, colorful, powerful, and controversial Lieutenant Governor Texas has ever had."
—William P. Hobby, Jr., Lieutenant Governor of Texas, 1973-1991
"McNeely and Henderson have brought a lot of memories back to life about a very dear friend and a true legend in Texas politics. Next to LBJ, more stories have been told and retold over the years about Bob Bullock than any other political figure in our state. McNeely and Henderson have captured these stories for future generations, and readers will have to decide for themselves which ones are facts and which ones are lore."
—Pete Laney, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 1993-2003
"Those of us who knew and worked with Bob Bullock either loved or hated him, and could easily do both in a twenty-four-hour period. Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson have done a masterful job of explaining who the real Bob Bullock was, and how his mood and attitude could change at the drop of a hat, and the impact he had on Texas government. Bob Bullock was an icon in Texas government, with a great depth of experience and understanding of all of the working segments from top to bottom. I was always surprised at the uncanny ability he had at hiring the very best people in the state to work for him. Without the talent of folks like Bob Johnson, Tony Proffitt, Bruce Gibson, Paul Hobby, and many others like them to help tame his bad side, I don't think Texas would ever have had a chance to see state government work at such a high level."
—Gibson D. "Gib" Lewis, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 1983-1992
"Bob Bullock had seen it all and had done it all, both good and bad. Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson were there as reporters, and they knew what to look for. This is a remarkable book, not just because of the mercurial Bullock, but because the book is a history of Texas politics during that time; in depth and at a gut level. Read it and you will know more about politics than you probably wanted to know."
—Bob Armstrong
Member, Texas House of Representatives, 1963-1970
Texas Land Commissioner, 1970-1982
Member, Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1993-1999
Renowned for his fierce devotion to the people of Texas—as well as his equally fierce rages and unpredictable temper—Bob Bullock was the most powerful political figure in Texas at the end of the twentieth century. First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1956, Bullock held several key statewide posts before capturing the lieutenant governor's office in 1990. Though nominally the state's number two official, Bullock in fact became Texas's top power broker, wielding tremendous influence over the legislative agenda and state budget through the 1990s while also mentoring and supporting a future president—George W. Bush.
In this lively, yet thoroughly researched biography, award-winning journalists Dave McNeely and Jim Henderson craft a well-rounded portrait of Bob Bullock, underscoring both his political adroitness and his personal demons. They trace Bullock's rise through state government as Assistant Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Comptroller, and Lieutenant Governor, showing how he increased the power of every office he held. The authors spotlight Bullock's substantial achievements, which included hiring an unprecedented number of women and minorities, instituting a performance review to increase the efficiency of state agencies, restructuring the public school funding system, and creating the state's first water conservation and management plan.
