EP. 146: Getting to Know Governor Oran Roberts, the “Old Alcalde.” An Interview with Dr. John Adams. Part 2
Wise About Texas
Ken Wise
4.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In part 2 of the interview with Dr. John Adams, we learn more about Governor Oran Roberts’ significant contribution to Texas public higher education.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Howdy and welcome to Wise About Texas, the Texas History podcast. |
| 0:11.9 | This is your host, Ken Wise. |
| 0:13.4 | Thank you very much for tuning in today for a little bit of Texas history. |
| 0:16.8 | This is going to be, this is labeled episode 146. |
| 0:19.9 | It's actually part two of the interview with Dr. John Adams about Governor Oren Roberts. |
| 0:26.8 | I hope you enjoyed part one. |
| 0:28.2 | If you haven't listened to it, go back and listen to Part 1 to get a good feel for the depth and breadth of Governor Roberts' dedication to his new state of Texas. |
| 0:40.1 | You'll recall he was born in South Carolina, moved to Alabama, came from there to Texas, |
| 0:45.8 | and has a fascinating career. |
| 0:48.0 | We're going to pick up on, after Governor Roberts is governor the second time and begins work on public higher education. |
| 0:59.0 | So enjoy this second part of the interview with Dr. John Adams. |
| 1:06.0 | All right, so now he's governor a second time. It's post-Reconstruction. |
| 1:10.0 | He's been governor before the war and now |
| 1:13.6 | after reconstruction, which is fascinating. Talk a little bit about his accomplishments during this |
| 1:19.3 | time as governor. He's been to office in 1878. And on the surface, papers, that's why the portal is so fascinating are already questioned |
| 1:30.6 | oh this old boy this old gray-haired guy from east Texas he's you know he's you know |
| 1:36.4 | he might have been in the law business but what does he know well he brings absolutely a |
| 1:41.9 | tremendous amount of experience that they they experience. He's tremendously underestimated. |
| 1:47.2 | And there's two or three things he does. First of all, he gets over there. The Texas budget |
| 1:51.5 | had been in the red and default since the beginning of the republic. He gets in there. First of all, they give him an audit. |
| 2:02.6 | They say, you don't need to worry about this. |
| 2:04.1 | The comptroller takes priority. |
... |
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