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79S31266 MMS-D

By:  Hunter                                                       H.R. No. 442



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, A host of friends and colleagues are celebrating the 
life of Dr. Grady McWhiney, one of the most influential American 
historians of the 20th century, who passed away at his home in 
Abilene on April 18, 2006, at the age of 77; and
	WHEREAS, Dr. McWhiney devoted his professional life to the 
study of the Civil War and the American South; his work is being 
carried forward by the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation, located 
at McMurry University, to whose endowment he pledged his entire 
estate; and
	WHEREAS, Born on July 15, 1928, in Shreveport, Louisiana, 
Dr. McWhiney enlisted in the Marines in 1945; he later earned a 
bachelor's degree from Centenary College, a master's from Louisiana 
State University, and a doctorate from Columbia University, where 
he was one of the first graduate students to work with the esteemed 
historian David Herbert Donald; and
	WHEREAS, Over the course of a career that spanned some four 
decades, Dr. McWhiney taught at a number of institutions, among 
them Troy State University, Milsaps College, the University of 
California at Berkeley, Northwestern University, the University of 
British Columbia, and Wayne State University; he directed the 
Southern History Institute at the University of Alabama for many 
years and later became the Lyndon Baines Johnson Professor of 
American History at Texas Christian University, which subsequently 
named him professor emeritus; in retirement, he taught at 
Mississippi Southern University and at McMurry; and
	WHEREAS, Altogether, Dr. McWhiney wrote or contributed to 
several dozen books and authored scores of articles; his best-known 
works include the biographical Braxton Bragg and Confederate 
Defeat, a coauthored study of Confederate military tactics titled 
Attack and Die, and a treatise on southern mores titled Cracker 
Culture:  Celtic Ways in the Old South; he also presented regularly 
at the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical 
Association, and the Southern Historical Association, and he 
enjoyed great demand as a speaker for civic organizations and 
groups of Civil War enthusiasts; and
	WHEREAS, Dr. McWhiney married Sue Baca in California in 1947 
and they shared a union that endured for more than half a century, 
until her passing in 2000; and
	WHEREAS, A courtly gentleman whose joys in life included his 
students, his friends, and good conversation, Dr. McWhiney also had 
a passion for Irish and southern fiddle music and developed such an 
expertise in that genre that he served on occasion as a fiddle 
contest judge; and
	WHEREAS, Respected as an impeccable scholar whose research 
yielded provocative new theses, Grady McWhiney contributed 
significantly to the study of American history and, through the 
McWhiney Foundation, to the advancement of history education, and 
his legacy will be felt for generations to come; now, therefore, be 
it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby pay tribute to the life of 
Dr. Grady McWhiney and express sincere appreciation for his 
remarkable body of work and for his dedication to the exploration 
and advancement of southern history; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That when the Texas House of Representatives 
adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Dr. Grady McWhiney.