The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984 Page: 72
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
eighty-seventh annual meeting. A native of San Augustine, whose
Texas roots go back to 1842, Mr. Clark holds a bachelor's degree from
Tulane University and a law degree from the University of Texas.
Two universities have conferred honorary doctoral degrees on him.
Ambassador Clark's life has been filled with years of serving his com-
munity, his state, and his nation. His early political career began in
San Augustine, where he served two terms as county attorney in the
late 192o0s. During James V. Allred's tenure as attorney general, Allred
brought Mr. Clark to Austin as an assistant attorney general. When
Allred became govenor, Mr. Clark served first as his top aide and
then as secretary of state.
A long and close friend and advisor of the late President Lyndon B.
Johnson-the two met in 1934-Mr. Clark managed Johnson's suc-
cessful congressional campaign in 1937. In 1965 President Johnson
named Mr. Clark ambassador to Australia. The new minister traveled
widely in the country "Down Under," meeting the people and be-
coming acquainted with all the regions of that wonderful land. Henry
Gordon, at the time assistant editor of the Melbourne Sun, writing in
The New York Times Magazine* of October 8, 1967, stated that Mr.
Clark was "regarded as the most successful ambassador the United
States has ever sent to Australia."
Some considered Mr. Clark the ambassador from Texas rather
than from the United States, so active was he in promoting the interests
of his native state. He freely handed out yellow roses and literature
about Texas to visitors to the embassy. He had 850 yellow rosebushes
planted in the embassy garden and his watch chain carried a gold
miniature map of the Lone Star State.
After the Ambassador and his wife, Anne Metcalfe Clark, returned
to Austin, The University of Texas Press published Australian Ad-
venture, a series of letters Mrs. Clark wrote to friends describing the
tour of duty in Australia.
His commitment to higher education, especially to the University of
Texas and Southwestern University, is as unremitting as his devotion
to his state and the TSHA. In 1967 the University of Texas Ex-
Students Association named him a Distinguished Alumnus, and in
1973 Governor Preston Smith appointed him to the University's board
of regents. While on the board Mr. Clark chaired the Investments,
*Mr. Jordan Cowman brought this interesting article to the attention of the Quarterly's
editor.72
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 87, July 1983 - April, 1984, periodical, 1983/1984; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117150/m1/92/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.