Dugger has published hundreds of articles in Harper's Magazine, The Nation, The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Progressive and other periodicals.
[3] The following year he was dubbed the "godfather of progressive journalism in Texas" in an in-depth feature published in the Austin American-Statesman by Brad Buchholz.
[4] In 1952 Dugger, along with Ralph Yarborough, John Henry Faulk, and others campaigned against Governor Allan Shivers, a Democrat who supported the Republican Party presidential candidate, Dwight Eisenhower.
"[5] He went on to mentor and influence progressive Texas journalists Willie Morris, Molly Ivins, Billy Lee Brammer, Lawrence Goodwyn, Kaye Northcott, and Jim Hightower.
He also held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.