Hutcheson spoke at the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago , Illinois , which nominated the Eisenhower-Nixon ticket . In 1957 , when U.S. Senator Price Daniel vacated his seat to become governor of Texas , Hutcheson was the Republican candidate in the special election to choose a successor . At the time , the plurality winner automatically filled the Senate vacancy . Hutcheson ran third with 23 percent of the vote . Victory in the Senate election went to Daniel 's gubernatorial primary runoff opponent , Ralph Yarborough , the Democrat who received 38 percent of the ballots cast . In second place with 30 percent of the vote was conservative Democratic U.S. Representative Martin Dies , Jr. , known for his House investigations into communist subversion . Had the supporters of Hutcheson and Dies been able to consolidate their votes in a second round of balloting , Yarborough would have been defeated . So highly regarded was Hutcheson in Texas GOP circles that when a second U.S. Senate vacancy arose in 1961 , when Lyndon B. Johnson resigned to become Vice President of the United States , some party leaders encouraged Hutcheson to run again , but he declined . John Tower , a Republican political science instructor at Midwestern State University In Wichita Falls , entered the special election . Tower had received 41 percent of the vote in November 1960 in the regular general election against Senator Johnson . who sought both reelection and the vice presidency under special state legislation . Tower went on to win the special election by a narrow margin over appointed conservative Democrat William Blakley . This time , a runoff — between Tower and Blakley — was required under revised state law to guarantee a majority-vote winner . Ironically , Blakley , a wealthy Dallas businessman , had held the Daniel Senate vacancy for three months in 1957 but did not run for the position at that time . Tower in 1961 became the first Republican senator from Texas since the 19th century and served ultimately nearly twenty-four years . Since Tower retired from the Senate in January 1985 , his former seat has remained continuously in Republican hands , a testimony to Hutcheson 's vision for his party from decades past . Hutcheson was a delegate to the 1956 and the 1960 Republican National Conventions . He was the chairman of the Texas GOP in 1958 but did not run for public office after the 1957 special Senate race . The annual moot court competition for first-year students at the UT Law School is named for Hutcheson . Hutcheson , his wife , and most other family members are interred at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston .
1952 Republican National Convention
1952 Republican National Convention
Thad Hutcheson