Shortly before he left office last week, Texas Governor Allan Shivers answered a question that had intrigued Texans since Election Day: Would he appoint a Republican to the Senate seat of incoming Governor Price Daniel? To the Senate, Shivers, an Eisenhower Democrat, sent canny William Arvis Blakley, 58, a Dallas tycoon who is also an Eisenhower Democrat. When newsmen sought out the appointee with an obvious question, shy Billy Blakley handed them an unequivocal answer: he was a lifelong Democrat, would vote that way in any attempt to reorganize the Senate.
Blakley is a Texastronomically rich man (estimated worth: more than $300 million) and one of the wealthiest ever to sit in the Senate. He amassed his fortune in real estate, ranch land, banking and insurance, built himself a $500,000 home, now is constructing a $125 million, 120-acre shopping center in Dallas, where air-conditioned walkways will link four office buildings, 150 stores and a 1,000-room hotel. Blakley will hold his Senate seat only until an April 2 special election names the heir to the last two years of Daniel's term.
Possibly because he has promised that he will not be a candidate, Billy Blakley's arrival in Washington touched off unusual harmony among the capital's Texas contingent. Smiled Sam Rayburn: "This is the first time anything political has happened in Texas that was unanimous."