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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Walter Henry Mengden, Jr. | image = |nationality=American |office= Texas State Senator for District 13 (Harris..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Walter Henry Mengden, Jr.
| image =
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|office= [[Texas]] State Senator for District 13 (Harris County)
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|term_start=1973
|term_end=1983
|preceded=Murray Watson, Jr.
|succeeded=Craig Anthony Washington
|office2=President pro tempore of the Texas Senate]
|term_start2=1981
|term_end2=1981
|preceded2=Jack Ogg
|succeeded2=John T. Wilson
|office3=Texas State Representative for Harris County]]
|term_start3=1971
|term_end3=1973
|preceded3=W. E. "Will" Lee
|succeeded3=District numbers changed
|birth_date=October 25, 1926
|birth_place=[[Houston, Texas|Houston]], Texas
|death_date=April 23, 2018 (aged 91)
|death_place=
|residence=Houston, Texas<br>
Horseshoe Bay, Texas<br>
[[Austin]], Texas
|occupation=[[Attorney]]; [[Oil]]man<br>
[[United States Navy]]
in [[Korean War]]<br>
[[United StatesArmy]]<br>
in[[World War II]]
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|spouse=June Shell Mengden
|children=One daughter<br>
Three sons, including<br>
Walter H. Mengden, III<br>
John Shell Mengden
|alma_mater=[[University of Texas]]<br>
University of Texas School of Law (Austin) }}
'''Walter Henry Mengden, Jr.''' (October 25, 1926 – April 23, 2018), was an [[attorney]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.martindale.com/Walter-H-Mengden-Jr/1678742-lawyer.htm|title=Walter H. Mengden, Jr. Lawyer Profile|publisher=martindale.com|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> and [[oil]]man in [[Austin]] and [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]], who served as a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] in both houses of the state legislature from Harris County.
==Early years==
Mengden was the son of Walter Mengden, Sr. (1903–1986) and Eugenia Mengden (1905–1983) of Houston.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> In 1938, the senior Mengdens purchased the Holley-Mengden House at 2240 Glen Haven Boulevard in Houston, now an historic site. There Mengden lived until adulthood.<ref name=hmh>{{cite web|url= http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/AboutPD/news_releases11/HolleyMengden_LogginsHughes.pdf|title=Holley-Mengden House and Loggins-Hughes Building now historic landmarks|date=May 4, 2011|publisher=houstontx.gov|accessdate=September 11, 2011}}</ref> In 1950, Mengden received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. Subsequently, he obtained his [[L.L.B.]] and [[Juris Doctor]]ate from the UT School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1954. He was a [[Roman Catholic]].<ref name=senate/>
Mengden served in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]] and the [[United States Army|Army]] in the [[Korean War]]. He and his wife, the former June Shell (born 1933), have a daughter and three sons.<ref name=davis>Jim Davis of Harte-Hanks, "Senatorial Candidates Gear Up for Race," ''The Paris (Texas) News,'' April 25, 1982.</ref>
After a single term in the Texas House in District 22-2 in 1971 and 1972, Mengden was elected in 1972 to senate district 13, a post that he filled from anuary 1973 to January 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberdisplay.cfm?memberID=540|title=Walter Mengden|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> District 13 had previously been based in the [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] and [[Temple, Texas|Temple]] area of Central Texas but was moved to Harris County with the 1971 redistricting. The district was further redistricted in the 1980s and is now majority [[African American]] and represented by a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]].
In 1976, Mengden led a slate of delegates in Texas's 7th congressional district pledged to former [[Governor]] [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]], who was challenging [[U.S. President]] [[Gerald Ford]] at Republican National Convention held in [[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]]. Mengden defeated Robert Mosbacher of Houston, the leader of the Ford forces. Mengden polled 39,276 votes to Mosbacher's 26,344. Mosbacher was later a [[Cabinet]] officer in the administration of Reagan's vice president and successor, [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. Mengden prevailed with 39,276 votes to Mosbacher's 26,344 votes. He was hence among the one hundred Texas delegates at Kansas City committed to Reagan.<ref>Texas Secretary of State, 1976 Republican presidential primary election returns, [[Austin, Texas]]</ref><ref>Billy Hathorn, "Mayor [[Ernest Angelo, Jr.]], of Midland and the 96-0 Reagan Sweep of Texas, May 1, 1976," ''[[West Texas Historical Association]] Yearbook'' Vol. 86 (2010), p. 81</ref>
==Senate service==
Mengden was sometimes called "Mad Dog Mengden" for his opposition to many bills supported by his more [[liberal]] colleagues,<ref name=hmh/> but he remained popular in District 13, as it was then configured, having been reelected in 1976 and 1980 with little opposition. Mengden was particularly known for his sponsorship of "law-and-order" legislation backed by law-enforcement agencies and appealing to conservative voters concerned about the crime rate. The Sheriff's Association of Texas, in its publication ''Texas Lawman,'' named Mengden the "Most Outstanding Member of
the Legislature" in both the 64th and 65th sessions. In the 66th session, the Texas District and County Attorneys Association cited Mengden in its publication ''Texas Prosecutor'' for his anti-crime activities. Mengden worked to secure constitutional limitations on state and local taxation as well as silent prayer in public schools.<ref name=senate>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/scanned/members/texas_senators/Public/Texas_Senate_67.pdf|title=Walter Mengden|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> He also sponsored a [[creation science]] bill in the Senate.<ref>''Texas Monthly'', July 1981, p. 111</ref>
Mengden also pushed, unsuccessfully, for the adoption of [[initiative]] and [[referendum]] in Texas, having lobbied for the reform measure during the 1974 state constitutional convention, which adjourned without a new governing document.<ref name=iTenit>{{cite web|url=http://www.iandrinstitute.org/Texas.htm|title=Initiative and Referendum Institute|publisher=iandrinstitute.org|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> In the initiative, which started in [[South Dakota]] in 1898, voters can write their own legislation and submit to a popular referendum, thus bypassing the legislature in certain situations. Instead, Texans can vote only on state constitutional amendments, usually held in November of odd years. These amendments are usually parochial and non-controversial in nature and thus attract little interest. An exception was the 1991 amendment to establish the state [[lottery]]. Initiative and referendum enjoyed large support from grassroots Republicans, but Governor [[Bill Clements]] never called the promised special session of the legislature to consider the measure. Thereafter, Governor [[George W. Bush]] had initiative and referendum removed from the party platform, and support for the reform has since languished.<ref name=init/>
In 1981, Mengden was one of four senators named as Senate President Pro Tempore. He soon left the Senate to contest the 1982 Republican nomination for the [[U. S. Senate]] to challenge the two-term [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.]], also of Houston, an icon in the eyes of most Texans at the time. Mengden lost the nomination to then [[U.S. Representative]] James Mitchell "Jim" Collins (1916-1989) of [[Dallas]]. Mengden accused Collins of having focused in [[Washington, D.C.]], primarily on killing "bad legislation," rather than passing needed bills. "Our problems are so great that even if that was valid sixteen or seventeen years ago, it's not today," said Mengden, who claimed to have obtained passage in the state Senate of ninety-one bills.<ref name=davis/> Both candidates ran as active supporters of President Reagan.
Collins polled 152,469 votes (58 percent) in the low-turnout primary to Mengden's 91,780 (34.9 percent). A third contender, computer executive Don L. Richardson, received the remaining 7.1 percent of the vote. Collins was then handily defeated by Bentsen. The year 1982 remains the most recent in Texas political history in which Democrats carried all statewide offices on the ballot.
The Mengdens resided in their later years in Lakeway in Travis County, outside Austin. Mengden died at the age of ninety-one. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Upon her death, Mrs. Mengden will be interred beside him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=9713|title=June Shell Mengden|publisher=cemetery.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengden, Walter}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
|Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Korean War]]
| name=Walter Henry Mengden, Jr.
| image =
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|office= [[Texas]] State Senator for District 13 (Harris County)
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|term_start=1973
|term_end=1983
|preceded=Murray Watson, Jr.
|succeeded=Craig Anthony Washington
|office2=President pro tempore of the Texas Senate]
|term_start2=1981
|term_end2=1981
|preceded2=Jack Ogg
|succeeded2=John T. Wilson
|office3=Texas State Representative for Harris County]]
|term_start3=1971
|term_end3=1973
|preceded3=W. E. "Will" Lee
|succeeded3=District numbers changed
|birth_date=October 25, 1926
|birth_place=[[Houston, Texas|Houston]], Texas
|death_date=April 23, 2018 (aged 91)
|death_place=
|residence=Houston, Texas<br>
Horseshoe Bay, Texas<br>
[[Austin]], Texas
|occupation=[[Attorney]]; [[Oil]]man<br>
[[United States Navy]]
in [[Korean War]]<br>
[[United StatesArmy]]<br>
in[[World War II]]
|religion=[[Roman Catholic]]
|spouse=June Shell Mengden
|children=One daughter<br>
Three sons, including<br>
Walter H. Mengden, III<br>
John Shell Mengden
|alma_mater=[[University of Texas]]<br>
University of Texas School of Law (Austin) }}
'''Walter Henry Mengden, Jr.''' (October 25, 1926 – April 23, 2018), was an [[attorney]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.martindale.com/Walter-H-Mengden-Jr/1678742-lawyer.htm|title=Walter H. Mengden, Jr. Lawyer Profile|publisher=martindale.com|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> and [[oil]]man in [[Austin]] and [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]], who served as a [[conservative]] [[Republican Party|Republican]] in both houses of the state legislature from Harris County.
==Early years==
Mengden was the son of Walter Mengden, Sr. (1903–1986) and Eugenia Mengden (1905–1983) of Houston.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi|title=Social Security Death Index|publisher=ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> In 1938, the senior Mengdens purchased the Holley-Mengden House at 2240 Glen Haven Boulevard in Houston, now an historic site. There Mengden lived until adulthood.<ref name=hmh>{{cite web|url= http://www.houstontx.gov/planning/AboutPD/news_releases11/HolleyMengden_LogginsHughes.pdf|title=Holley-Mengden House and Loggins-Hughes Building now historic landmarks|date=May 4, 2011|publisher=houstontx.gov|accessdate=September 11, 2011}}</ref> In 1950, Mengden received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. Subsequently, he obtained his [[L.L.B.]] and [[Juris Doctor]]ate from the UT School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1954. He was a [[Roman Catholic]].<ref name=senate/>
Mengden served in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]] and the [[United States Army|Army]] in the [[Korean War]]. He and his wife, the former June Shell (born 1933), have a daughter and three sons.<ref name=davis>Jim Davis of Harte-Hanks, "Senatorial Candidates Gear Up for Race," ''The Paris (Texas) News,'' April 25, 1982.</ref>
After a single term in the Texas House in District 22-2 in 1971 and 1972, Mengden was elected in 1972 to senate district 13, a post that he filled from anuary 1973 to January 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/legeLeaders/members/memberdisplay.cfm?memberID=540|title=Walter Mengden|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> District 13 had previously been based in the [[Waco, Texas|Waco]] and [[Temple, Texas|Temple]] area of Central Texas but was moved to Harris County with the 1971 redistricting. The district was further redistricted in the 1980s and is now majority [[African American]] and represented by a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]].
In 1976, Mengden led a slate of delegates in Texas's 7th congressional district pledged to former [[Governor]] [[Ronald W. Reagan]] of [[California]], who was challenging [[U.S. President]] [[Gerald Ford]] at Republican National Convention held in [[Kansas City]], [[Missouri]]. Mengden defeated Robert Mosbacher of Houston, the leader of the Ford forces. Mengden polled 39,276 votes to Mosbacher's 26,344. Mosbacher was later a [[Cabinet]] officer in the administration of Reagan's vice president and successor, [[George Herbert Walker Bush]]. Mengden prevailed with 39,276 votes to Mosbacher's 26,344 votes. He was hence among the one hundred Texas delegates at Kansas City committed to Reagan.<ref>Texas Secretary of State, 1976 Republican presidential primary election returns, [[Austin, Texas]]</ref><ref>Billy Hathorn, "Mayor [[Ernest Angelo, Jr.]], of Midland and the 96-0 Reagan Sweep of Texas, May 1, 1976," ''[[West Texas Historical Association]] Yearbook'' Vol. 86 (2010), p. 81</ref>
==Senate service==
Mengden was sometimes called "Mad Dog Mengden" for his opposition to many bills supported by his more [[liberal]] colleagues,<ref name=hmh/> but he remained popular in District 13, as it was then configured, having been reelected in 1976 and 1980 with little opposition. Mengden was particularly known for his sponsorship of "law-and-order" legislation backed by law-enforcement agencies and appealing to conservative voters concerned about the crime rate. The Sheriff's Association of Texas, in its publication ''Texas Lawman,'' named Mengden the "Most Outstanding Member of
the Legislature" in both the 64th and 65th sessions. In the 66th session, the Texas District and County Attorneys Association cited Mengden in its publication ''Texas Prosecutor'' for his anti-crime activities. Mengden worked to secure constitutional limitations on state and local taxation as well as silent prayer in public schools.<ref name=senate>{{cite web|url=http://www.lrl.state.tx.us/scanned/members/texas_senators/Public/Texas_Senate_67.pdf|title=Walter Mengden|publisher=lrl.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> He also sponsored a [[creation science]] bill in the Senate.<ref>''Texas Monthly'', July 1981, p. 111</ref>
Mengden also pushed, unsuccessfully, for the adoption of [[initiative]] and [[referendum]] in Texas, having lobbied for the reform measure during the 1974 state constitutional convention, which adjourned without a new governing document.<ref name=iTenit>{{cite web|url=http://www.iandrinstitute.org/Texas.htm|title=Initiative and Referendum Institute|publisher=iandrinstitute.org|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref> In the initiative, which started in [[South Dakota]] in 1898, voters can write their own legislation and submit to a popular referendum, thus bypassing the legislature in certain situations. Instead, Texans can vote only on state constitutional amendments, usually held in November of odd years. These amendments are usually parochial and non-controversial in nature and thus attract little interest. An exception was the 1991 amendment to establish the state [[lottery]]. Initiative and referendum enjoyed large support from grassroots Republicans, but Governor [[Bill Clements]] never called the promised special session of the legislature to consider the measure. Thereafter, Governor [[George W. Bush]] had initiative and referendum removed from the party platform, and support for the reform has since languished.<ref name=init/>
In 1981, Mengden was one of four senators named as Senate President Pro Tempore. He soon left the Senate to contest the 1982 Republican nomination for the [[U. S. Senate]] to challenge the two-term [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.]], also of Houston, an icon in the eyes of most Texans at the time. Mengden lost the nomination to then [[U.S. Representative]] James Mitchell "Jim" Collins (1916-1989) of [[Dallas]]. Mengden accused Collins of having focused in [[Washington, D.C.]], primarily on killing "bad legislation," rather than passing needed bills. "Our problems are so great that even if that was valid sixteen or seventeen years ago, it's not today," said Mengden, who claimed to have obtained passage in the state Senate of ninety-one bills.<ref name=davis/> Both candidates ran as active supporters of President Reagan.
Collins polled 152,469 votes (58 percent) in the low-turnout primary to Mengden's 91,780 (34.9 percent). A third contender, computer executive Don L. Richardson, received the remaining 7.1 percent of the vote. Collins was then handily defeated by Bentsen. The year 1982 remains the most recent in Texas political history in which Democrats carried all statewide offices on the ballot.
The Mengdens resided in their later years in Lakeway in Travis County, outside Austin. Mengden died at the age of ninety-one. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Upon her death, Mrs. Mengden will be interred beside him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=9713|title=June Shell Mengden|publisher=cemetery.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mengden, Walter}}
[[Category:Texas]]
[[Category:Attorneys]]
[[Category:Business People]]
[[Category:Politicians]]
[[Category:State Senators]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Conservatives]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Politicians]]
[[Category:United States Navy]]
[[Category:United States Army]]
|Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Korean War]]