Juvenile Burglar Shot, 09/21/68: Police search the scene of a burglary while first responders load an unidentified teenager into an ambulance
Fish Kill, 09/21/68: Dead fish litter the bank at Morgan’s Point. Bob Cross, regional supervisor at the La Porte regional office of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, reportedly blamed the fish kill on a lack of oxygen in the water. An estimated 30,000 fish died.
Connally in S.A. National Guard, 09/21/68: Texas Governor John Connally presides over a Air National Guard Day ceremony during HemisFair ‘68 in San Antonio. Connally presented a set of HemisFair medallions to Brigadier General I. G. Brown, assistant chief of the Air National Guard. September 21 was also McAllister Day at the fair, with events honoring the city’s mayor, W W. McAllister.
Electronic Arm, 09/21/68: A medical patient demonstrates the functionality of an electronic prosthetic arm
The Shell Companies Foundation donates $120,000 to the United Fund of Houston and Harris County
Crime/Computer, 09/20/68: A police secretary runs a record search through the department’s nascent computer system
Echols [sic] on Tax, 09/20/68 Bob Eckels, then president of the Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees and future Harris County commissioner, talks about tax bargaining negotiations between HISD and the city
Jewish New Year, 09/21/68: Preparations for Rosh Hoshanah services at the Temple Emanu El in Houston. The celebration, the first of the High Holidays, began at sundown on September 23. Congregation Emanu El was founded by 190 families in 1944. Its temple, dedicated in 1949, was designed in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright by congregant Lenard Gabert an MacKie & Kamrath Architects.
Auto Cross, 09/22/68: Spectators watch as drivers navigate an autocross course
Scientific Teachers, 09/29/68: Technology used by research scientists makes its way into the classroom, where students conduct physics and chemistry experiments
Dog Show, 09/22/68: Parade of breeds presented by the Wasa Area Kennel Club
U of H Returns, 09/22/68: College football fans welcome the University of Houston team back home following an away game against the University of Texas. The September 21 matchup between the no. 11 Houston Cougars and no. 4 Texas Longhorns ended in a 20-20 tie.
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This film from KHOU-TV Channel 11 in Houston contains a series of short news segments that would have aired as highlights to news stories. Many are silent and would have been voiced over by the anchorperson during a live broadcast. The titles for each segment are the originals created by KHOU-TV. The clips on this reel all date from September 20 to 29, 1968. This series features news segments about Air National Guard Day festivities at HemisFair, preparations for Rosh Hashanah, and prosthetics technology.
The digital preservation of this collection was made possible by a grant to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image and the Houston Public Library from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The 38th Governor of Texas, John Bowden Connally Jr., was born on a farm near Floresville, Texas, on February 27, 1917. Connally graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1941 with a law degree and was subsequently admitted to the State Bar of Texas. He began his political career as a legislative assistant to Representative Lyndon B. Johnson in 1939. The two retained a close but often torrid friendship until LBJ’s death. After returning from U.S. Naval combat in the Pacific Theater, Connally joined an influential Austin law firm, served as LBJ’s campaign manager and aide, and became oil tycoon Sid W. Richardson’s legal counsel. Connally’s reputation as a political mastermind was solidified after managing five of LBJ’s major political campaigns, including the 1964 presidential election. In 1961, Connally served as Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy.
Wealthy financiers like Sid Richardson and a strong grassroots network of supporters helped Connally win his first gubernatorial election in 1962. The three-term governor fought to expand higher education by increasing teachers’ salaries, creating new doctoral programs, and establishing the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Historical Commission. In 1969, President Richard Nixon appointed Connally to the foreign-intelligence advisory board. He was named the 61st Secretary of the Treasury in 1971. Connally became one of the President’s principal advisors and headed the Democrats for Nixon organization, finally switching to the Republican Party in 1973. Connally is also remembered nationally for being in the car with President Kennedy during his assassination in Dallas in 1963, when Connally received wounds in his chest, wrist, and thigh.
The former Texas governor announced in January 1979 that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. His campaign was abandoned after media attacks over a controversial public speech and bank partnership. Financial troubles befell Connally by the mid-1980s after a real estate development partnership with former Texas Representative Ben Barnes collapsed. John Connally died on June 15, 1993, and is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
The 1968 HemisFair was a World’s Fair held in San Antonio to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the city’s founding. It was the first World’s Fair to be held in the southwest, and its theme was “Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas.” From April 6 to October 6, 1968, the HemisFair welcomed over 6 million visitors. Famous attendees included Bob Hope, Louis Armstrong, Princess Grace of Monaco, President Johnson and his family, and Texas Governor John Connally. There were many attractions including exhibits, a monorail, a lagoon, and a variety of performances. Perhaps the most controversial was a show called the “Flying Indians of Papantla,” during which four men tied to ropes revolved down a 114-foot pole. The complaints stemmed from a mock sacrifice at the beginning of the show, which involved a chicken and a topless woman. This was swiftly edited out of the show.
The popular River Walk was extended in order to meet the site of the fair, and many new buildings were constructed in the downtown area to accommodate exhibitions from over thirty countries and fifteen organizations. Some of these buildings remain, most notably the Tower of the Americas, which was the main symbol of the fair. The area is now known as HemisFair Park.
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