He graduated from Corpus Christi High School in 1921, where he played end on the football team that won the South Texas championship.
[2][6][7] For a time, Parr and his friends were enthusiastic and accomplished polo players, albeit on cow ponies with western saddles.
[citation needed] The alliance between the Parr-controlled commission and the Hispanic populace made the county a bastion of Democratic strength.
Parr garnered popular support with his charisma, his fluency in Spanish, and Robin Hood tendencies with sharing the Duval County and Benavides Independent School District coffers.
After Archer's death, George inherited the Parr political machine, and the populace passed on the name, "El Patrón", to him as they did his father.
[8] The discovery of oil in Duval County also created ample opportunities for patronage, allowing Parr to amass a small fortune.
Along with other large landowners and managers of landed estates owned by prominent Eastern businessmen, Parr helped develop the practice of working illegal aliens and later using them for advancing political interests.
[citation needed] More importantly, his own political career included serving as both the Duval County Judge and Sheriff.
He was convicted of tax evasion in 1932, and eventually served nine months in Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno after violating his parole.
(In 1934 Archie's reelection to the Texas State senate was in doubt and he hoped that building a road to Corpus Christi across the King Ranch, which was owned by the Kleberg family, would save his political career.
Johnson won the nomination by 87 votes, tantamount to election in an era when Republicans were not competitive in the South, and prompting the sobriquet "landslide Lyndon.
"[7] Most contemporary observers accept that Parr used his influence to affect the Jim Wells County vote totals in Johnson's favor.
Under the protection of Lyndon Johnson,[citation needed] Parr eluded all attempts to investigate and convict him for fraud, bribery, corruption, racketeering, and murder.
The botched assassination of Buddy Floyd, Jake's son, mistakenly shot and killed by Mario Sapet, on September 8, 1952, also signaled turbulent times for the Parr Machine.
The law finally caught up with Parr in 1974 when he was convicted of income tax evasion and given a ten-year prison term.