McCrocklin, James H.

Dates

• Existence: 1923 - 1998

Biography

Born in Boerne, Texas, in 1923 James H. McCrocklin received all of his degrees from the University of Texas, and was a Marine Corps officer in World War II and Korea. He began his academic career at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, where he became chair of the Government Department and mayor of Kingsville. He came to San Marcos in 1964 as Southwest Texas State College's fourth president and drew the college into the national spotlight, beginning with an inaugural address by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who later returned to campus to sign the Higher Education Act of 1965. Closely linked to President Johnson, McCrocklin served as his Under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from July 1968 to January 1969. McCrocklin also received the long-coveted federal fish hatchery property (now site of three buildings) in exchange for university farmland southwest of San Marcos. McCrocklin led the school through five years of explosive growth and national turmoil, reorganizing it into five schools, modernizing many of its processes, and easing free-speech restrictions on students. Enrollment nearly doubled during his presidency, growing from 3,850 to 8,406.

He resigned in April 1969, months after it was revealed major sections of his 1954 doctoral thesis as well as his wife’s thesis were plagiarized. McCrocklin went into the real estate business in Central Texas, living in Wimberley until his death in 1998.

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