Harry Holloway

Harry Holloway was a professor at OU 1961-91. He was President of the Oklahoma Chapter of the American Association of University Professors in 1995.

BAD TIMES FOR GOOD OL' BOYS
The Oklahoma County Commissioner Scandal
Harry Holloway, with Frank S. Meyers
University of Oklahoma Press (1993)

"In the early 1980s one of the worst scandals in the nation hit Oklahoma local government. By 1984, when federal prosecutors announced an end to their work, more than two hundred people had been convicted in sixty counties. Most were county commissioners who had been taking kickbacks paid by suppliers on orders for county road-building supplies. That corruption could be so wide-spread and long-standing was hard to understand. How could so many "good ol' boys" (usually popular and respected local officials) become so corrupt? Determined to study the problem, Harry Holloway and Frank S. Meyers sifted through a large body of evidence, conducted a public-opinion survey, and interviewed nearly half of all county commissioners in office following the prosecutions.

Their discoveries were two. First, because rural populism had splintered Oklahoma government from top to bottom, commissioners were left with so much money and discretion as to invite abuse. Second, abusers justified their illegal behavior on the basis that they were entitled to their gains. Local government, the authors argue, is improved but remains vulnerable. Analyzing the national savings and loan scandal, they review prospects for corruption within the state—especially the scheme of education bonds developed within the state in the late 1980s. The book will interest citizens, academics, and officials at all levels of government who want to understand an Oklahoma scandal of momentous proportions and, even more, to appreciate how political culture and institutions may contribute to corruption. As the authors show, values and institutions democratic in intent may lend themselves to the purposes of corrupt people who rationalize their misdeeds." (University of Oklahoma Press)

"By the time federal prosecutors announced an end to their investigation of Oklahoma local government in the early 1980s, more than 200 people had been convicted in 60 counties. Most were county commissioners who had been taking kickbacks paid by suppliers on orders for county road-building supplies. This study examines how and why such corruption occurred." (Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)

PARTY AND FACTIONAL DIVISION IN TEXAS
James R. Soukup, Clifton McCleskey, Harry Holloway
University of Texas Press (1964)

"Here is the first attempt by scholars make a comprehensive analysis of voting patterns in Texas. In the light of recent drastic changes in Texas' traditional one-party system [Democratic Party] their research is both timely and important. Examining the results of fourteen elections from 1946 through 1962 and organizing a vast fund of statistics relative to Texas political parties and voters, the authors have laid a solid groundwork for further studies in this field.

The previously ineffectual Texas Republican Party has made great strides in the past decade and is now a competitor in state as well as national races....

The authors also contend that there have been significant changes in the nature of the issues and the modes of political operation.... friendship-oriented campaigns appealing to regional and familylike sentiments are being quickly replaced by an organized politics in which political activists make strong ideological appeals to economic and social interests.

The Republicans, the conservative Democrats, and the liberal Democrats are each analyuzed in relation to regionalism, demography, ethnic elements, and the economic system in Texas...The developments within the Republican Party and its challenge to the traditional Democratic Party are seen in the perspectives of the growing importance of minority groups and the impact of urbanization.

All those interested in Texas politics will find this study indispensable for an intelligent appraisal of recent developments within the state." (from book jacket)

Soukup, The University of Texas
McCleskey, The University of Houston
Holloway, The University of Oklahoma

PUBLIC OPINION
Coalitions, Elites, and Masses 
Harry Holloway, John George 
(out of print)