Clayton Williams is best known for running for the governorship of the state of Texas against then-State Treasurer Ann Richards in 1990 on the Republican ticket.

Biographical Information

Independent oil and gas man Clayton W. Williams Jr. is the son of Clayton Wheat Williams, who was himself a very successful oil man and a civic leader. Clayton Jr. graduated from Texas A&M in 1954 with a degree in animal husbandry.

In 1957, Williams followed in the business of his father, beginning in the oil fields of West Texas as a lease broker. Throughout the next 30 years, he slowly built himself up, creating more than 23 companies in 30 years. Many of his companies were petroleum-related with interests in the exploration and production of natural gas and transportation and extraction of natural gas and natural gas liquids. Williams also diversified into the more traditional businesses of farming, ranching, real estate and banking and even tried his hands at the high-technology industry of long distance telecommunications. Williams also taught for six years in the Texas A&M College of Business Administration.

As an administrator, Clayton served as the Vice President and director of the Association of Former Students at Texas A&M in 1977. As a philanthropist, he was a founding member of the Presidents Endowed Scholarship for Gifted Students at Texas A&M. He was also the founder and director of the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute, an institution dedicated to the study of animals and plants of the Chihuahua Desert of southwest Texas and Mexico. He also made several significant monetary donations to Texas A&M, including underwriting half of the cost for a student center which now bears his name

The Texas Gubernatorial Race

While Texas had proven to be a stronghold to the Democratic party throughout the 20th century, it appeared that the winds of change were blowing and Williams would manage to become only the second Republican governor of Texas since Reconstruction. In fact, before Williams made a legendary pair of gaffes, he was reported to be leading Ann Richards by 20 points in the polls.

In his first widely-publicized misstep, Williams failed to shake Ann Richards' hand in a public debate. Several weeks later, Williams made his famous joke to reporters, likening rape to the weather, quipping, "as long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."

Even after both of these political snafus, Williams only narrowly lost the election to Ann Richards.