Governor John Connally

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy named Connally, at Johnson's request, as Secretary of the Navy. Connally resigned eleven months later in order to run for the Texas governorship. He was elected Governor of Texas in November 1962 as a conservative Democrat, defeating liberal Democrat Don Yarborough in a close primary. In November 1962, Connally turned back a determined bid by the Republican Jack Cox of Houston. Cox had run two years earlier in the Democratic primary against then Governor Marion Price Daniel, Sr. Connally received 847,036 ballots (54 percent) to Cox's 715,025 (45.6 percent). Connally served as governor from 1963 to 1969. He faced weak Republican opposition from Jack Crichton and T.E. Kennerly in the general elections of 1964 and 1966, winning those contests by margins of 73.8 percent and 72.8 percent, respectively.

On November 22, 1963, he was seriously wounded while riding in President Kennedy's car in Dallas, Texas when the president was assassinated.