On a hot summer day in 1920, Oscar Holcombe was cooling off at a soda fountain in Houston's old Scanlan Building. He ridiculed the idea that he should run for mayor. He explained to a friend that he was happy and prosperous as a building contractor. But he ran anyway, defeated the city attorney, the vice president of the Houston Post and a county commissioner who was considered the shoo-in candidate. He did it by "shaking hands with everybody in town . . . up one side of the street and down the other."
Last week, 28 years and eight terms...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
