William Clement was an oil - field roughneck and entrepreneur . He was elected Texas governor in 1978 , and ousted four years later . George W. Bush remembers him as a ` ` great man '' and ` ` political pioneer '' Gov . Rick Perry called Clements ` ` the father of the modern - day Republican Party ''
William Clements was an oil-field roughneck and entrepreneur . He was elected Texas governor in 1978 , and ousted four years later . George W. Bush remembers him as a `` great man '' and `` political pioneer '' Gov . Rick Perry calls Clements `` the father of the modern-day Republican Party ''