Ask Hightower: Who were the Killer Bees in 1970s Texas?

Reader David S. writes: Hey Jim—wasn't there a gang of progressive legislators in TX in the '70s that called themselves the "Killer Bees"? Why that name?

Hightower: Killer bees were hybrid honey bees out of South America that turned out to be a super aggressive breed that, when swarming, indeed, killed some people. They emerged in South Texas in the late 1970s‐-also a time Gov. John Connally was trying to rig the GOP primary to help him run for President. A group of 12 Democratic state senators, including Rep. Lloyd Doggett, went into hiding, preventing a quorum to pass Connally's scheme. They were branded “Killer Bees” by Connally's operatives, who thought the name would be a negative. But, it became a symbol of group rebellion against corrupt and stupid politics-as-usual, and the 12 were widely hailed as heroes for swarming together to block the bill. After the Killer Bees killed that ploy, Connally’s national campaign collapsed. He and his corporate backers had spent $11 million... winning only one delegate in the Republican contest-- the priciest delegate in memory.

An aside: After becoming Tricky Dick's Treasury Secretary in 1971, Connally stepped down from the Cabinet post to head “Democrats for Nixon” in 1972. Later, in 1973, he switched parties altogether, and this move prompted the great progressive Sen. Ralph Yarborough to say that it was the “first time in history that a rat swam toward a sinking ship.”

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