October 7, 2016
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.
NTCC Honors Director, Dr. Andrew Yox wrote and aired the commentary.† 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.† Both had wives who first covered for their husbands to protect their family name,†and then ran for office in their own right. In both cases, the husbands acted as campaign surrogates.† 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.?† 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.†The Fergusons, who were not associated with charges of infidelity, synchronized better.†In fact as one Presidential Scholar in the midst of taking the honors Biotex† seminar, Morgan Capps, noted, the Fergusons were a ?symbiotic super-couple.?† 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.† 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. †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.† In August and September, Yox published two articles in the†East Texas Journal†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,Touchstone,†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 NTCC administrators have helped maintain the once-a-year productions.
