Political and Academic Career
Rudder served as mayor of his hometown of Brady, Texas for six years. In 1953, he became vice president of Brady Aviation Company. On January 1, 1955, he assumed the office of Texas Land Commissioner after James Bascom Giles abandoned the position. At that time the Veterans Land Program was under scrutiny for mismanagement and corruption. Rudder undertook the task of reforming policies, expediting land applications, and closely supervising proper accounting procedures. He also oversaw the proper leasing of state lands by employing more field inspectors for oil and gas sites and adding a seismic exploration staff. In addition, he improved working conditions for his staff and instigated a program to preserve the many deteriorating General Land Office documents.
Rudder won the 1956 state land commissioner election as the Democratic. He became vice president of Texas A&M University in 1958. Rudder became president in 1959 and president of the entire A&M System from 1965 to his death in 1970. In 1967 President Lyndon B. Johnson presented him with the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest peacetime service award. Since his death in 1970, an annual service has been held in Normandy, France, in his honor.
While president of Texas A&M, Rudder is credited for transforming the University from a small land-grant college to a renowned university. Specifically, he made membership in the Corps of Cadets optional, allowed women to attend, and led efforts to integrate the campus. While the changes were hugely unpopular to the former students (it has been said only a president with Rudder's heroic military record could pull off such drastic changes), there is no doubt these changes freed Texas A&M to become one of the largest and most well respected universities in the U.S. There are many reminders of Rudder on campus, including Rudder Tower, next to the Memorial Student Center. A special training unit within the Corps of Cadets known as "Rudder's Rangers" is named in his honor. Cadets within the Corps of Cadets at A&M are expected to be able to recite an excerpt from the inscription on Rudder tower, a "Campusology" that reads:
| “ | In memory of James Earl Rudder, 1910-1970, Class of 1932, Heroic Soldier, Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas, Sixteenth President of Texas A&M University … Third President of the Texas A&M University System.
Earl Rudder was architect of the dream that produced this center. In this, as in all he did, he demonstrated uncommon ability to inspire men and lead them to exceptional achievement. |
” |
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