View source for Veterans' Land Board scandal

The '''Veterans Land Board Scandal''' was a [[political scandal]] in [[Texas]] in that became public in 1954.

The [[Texas Legislature]] enacted the Veterans Land Act in November 1946 which created the [[Texas Veterans Land Board]] as a division of the [[Texas General Land Office|General Land Office]] (GLO). The measure called for issuing $25 million in [[Bond (finance)|bonds]], the proceeds of which would be used by the state government to purchase land and resell it to [[veterans]] of [[World War II]] at 3% interest on 40 year [[loan]]s.  In early 1951 another $75 million was appropriated by the state for this purpose.  The only stipulations on the purchase was that the loan could not be for more than $7,500 and the tracts of land could not be less than 20 [[acre]]s (80,000 m²).  A 5% downpayment was required, and the land could not be resold for three years.  The law allowed for "block sales," whereby veterans could join together to buy the land.  This was allowed because it would be difficult to buy 20 acres (80,000 m²) with only $7,500.<ref>Elizabeth Kaderli, [http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mqv01 "VETERANS' LAND BOARD SCANDAL,"] Handbook of Texas Online, accessed December 23, 2014. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref>

The scandal was unveiled in November 1954 when reporter [[Ken Towery]], then managing editor of the ''[[Cuero, Texas|Cuero]] Record'', published the results of his investigation of a tip that prominent Cuero-area businessmen were entertaining local Hispanic and African-American laborers, an unheard of thing in South Texas at this time. The businessmen were paying the laborers, who were veterans and mostly illiterate, to sign applications for the land grants and the businessmen would pocket the money. Many of the veterans who purchased land in block sales were not even aware that they had purchased land.  In fact, many were led to believe that they were getting free land as part of a veteran [[entitlement program]] or else were receiving some type of veterans' compensation from the state.  When Towery asked [[Texas Veterans Land Board]] chairman (and [[Texas General Land Office]] commissioner) [[Bascom Giles]] about these irregularities, Giles denied involvement, attributing the irregularities to local land speculators. Struck by the fact that Giles had defended himself before even being accused of anything, Towrey ran with the story, accelerating an investigation begun the previous year by the state attorney general, [[John Ben Shepperd]].<ref name=Texas>{{cite book|last1=Varhola|first1=Michael|title=Texas Confidential: Sex, Scandal, Murder, and Mayhem in the Lone Star State|date=2011|publisher=Clerisy Press|location=Cincinnati|isbn=978-1578604586|pages=103–107|edition=First}}</ref>

[[Fraud]] was soon discovered in nine south Texas counties, and numerous members of the General Land Office were charged with fraud and conspiracy to defraud veterans.  Giles was imprisoned for his role in the scandal, and many others paid heavy fines for their crimes. Governor [[Allan Shivers]] and John Ben Sheppard, as ''[[ex officio]]'' members of the Veterans Land Board, were tainted by the scandal.  [[Ralph Yarborough]] and his allies in the liberal wing of the Texas [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] pointed to the scandal as an example of the kind of corruption that the conservative [[Shivercrats]] were willing to overlook. Towery, himself a veteran, would be awarded the 1955 [[Pulitzer Prize]] for his uncovering of the scandal. [https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/roland-kenneth-towery]

==See also==
* [[List of federal political scandals in the United States]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1954 crimes in the United States]]
[[Category:1954 in the United States]]
[[Category:History of veterans' affairs in the United States]]
[[Category:Political scandals in Texas]]
[[Category:Texas General Land Office]]