William Perry Clements Jr. (April 13, 1917 – May 29, 2011) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician who served two nonconsecutive terms as the governor of Texas between 1979 and 1991.

Before he became Governor of Texas, Clements made his fortune in crude oil and served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense for President Richard Nixon.

The two men did not get along, yet when Rumsfeld was appointed, Clements resisted efforts to be moved to another department, even going so far as to threaten, if removed from his office, to hold a press conference and label his dismissal a "power play."

Adams, the subject of The Thin Blue Line, an Errol Morris documentary film, was exonerated in 1989 after serving twelve years in prison.

He ran again in 1986 and won a contested GOP primary against U.S. Representative Thomas Loeffler of New Braunfels, the seat of Comal County, and former Democratic-turned-Republican Congressman Kent Hance of Lubbock.

In the fall, Clements unseated Governor White, who was hurt by the unpopularity of the "no pass/no play" policy involving high school athletics and proposed teacher competency testing.

On March 3, 1987, Clements admitted that he and the other members of the SMU board of governors had approved a secret plan to continue payments to 13 football players from a slush fund provided by a booster.

The shutdown and other sanctions left the once-proud Mustang football program in ruin; SMU would not procure another bowl bid until 2009, and it would also be another ten years before they would be ranked in the top 25 in the Amway Coaches Poll by USA Today.

"[7] According to the report, in late 1985, then SMU President L. Donald Shields and board of trustees chairman Edwin L. Cox wanted to stop the payments completely, in opposition to Clements and Hitch.

But Clements, admitting his way would be "taking a chance," argued that if the payments were stopped immediately, star players receiving them would be sure to leave SMU and publicly announce why.

During his second term, Clements worked to reduce crime, improve education, boost the Texas economy, and foster better relations with Mexico, especially on issues important to the mutual borders, such as immigration and the War on Drugs.

However, he did not push as pledged for the initiative and referendum reforms advocated by State Senator Walter Mengden of Houston, based on the principle of California's Proposition 13.

On February 16, 2010, Clements and his wife both endorsed Governor Rick Perry's re-election campaign in the 2010 Texas Republican gubernatorial primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison.

[12] Clements, incidentally, won the Republican nomination that ultimately led to his first term as governor by defeating Hutchison's husband, Ray, in the 1978 GOP primary.