Maury Maverick, Jr. was born in San Antonio, Texas, on 1921 January 3, the son of Democratic Congressman Fontaine Maury Maverick (1895-1954) and Terrell Louise Dobbs (1901-1994). His great-grandfather Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870) signed the Texas Declaration of Independence; his paternal grandparents were Albert and Jane Lewis Maury Maverick. After graduating from the Texas Military Institute (1938) and receiving a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Texas at Austin (1942), Maverick served in the U.S. Marines during World War II, rising to the rank of major. He attended Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California, and in 1949 received a law degree from St. Mary's University in San Antonio
Influenced by his father, Maverick began a career in politics. He represented San Antonio as a liberal Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives from 1951 to 1957. During his three terms, Maverick contested Jim Crow laws, supported labor unions, and derailed an effort by the legislature to extend the death penalty to Communist Party members. In 1960, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Lyndon B. Johnson.
Disgusted with politics, Maverick focused on his law career and specialized in civil rights, civil liberties, and pro bono cases. He represented civil rights protestors, communists, and atheists; won a Supreme Court case against the FBI's seizure of publications from a Texas bookstore on charges that they were seditious (
In addition to his law practice, Maverick taught political science at St. Mary's University and Incarnate Word College, both in San Antonio. In 1980, he became a columnist for the
Maury Maverick married Julia Orynski, an artist from Dallas, on 1966 December 25; the couple had no children. Maverick died in San Antonio on 2003 January 28 at the age of eighty-two.
Maury Maverick, Jr. biographical file, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
The collection contains Maury Maverick's research material on Texas history. Included are notes, copies and transcriptions of source material, and correspondence gathered into notebooks on specific research topics. Subject matter includes experimental use of camels in Texas, Mormon settlements in Texas, and the Gutierrez-Magee expedition. Some items in the collection are photocopies.
No restrictions. The collection is open for research.
Please be advised that the library does not hold the copyright to most of the material in its archival collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure those rights when needed. Permission to reproduce does not constitute permission to publish. The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright, literary property rights, and libel.
Papers of Jane Lewis Maury Maverick, ca. 1887, 1927-1944, Accession #1946, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.
[Identification of item], Maury Maverick, Jr. Research Papers, 1857-1964, Col 10841, Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, San Antonio, Texas.
Gift of Maury Maverick, Jr., 1964 May.
Processed by Warren Stricker.
Finding aid edited and encoded by Tom D'Amore, 2011 September.