Ongoing Display
Briscoe–Garner Museum, Uvalde, Texas
1st Floor
Featured on the first floor of the Briscoe-Garner Museum is the permanent exhibition Cactus Jack of Texas: The Life and Career of John Nance Garner, which details the remarkable life and career of Garner, the most powerful vice president in U.S. history and the second most powerful politician in the U.S. during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Through a selection of documents and personal artifacts, the exhibit covers Garner’s early childhood and career as a lawyer and judge in Uvalde, his marriage to life partner Ettie Rheiner, his influential work as a congressman in the Texas Legislature, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Vice President in the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, to his eventual retirement in Uvalde. Many documents underscore Garner’s colorful personality and unique ability to forge friendships and pass bipartisan legislation on an astounding scale.