A.R. Schwartz

Aaron Robert Schwartz, always known as A. R. Schwartz or "Babe" Schwartz (born July 17, 1926) is a former member of the Texas Legislature. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1955 to 1959 and the Texas Senate, District 17 from 1960 to 1981, representing Galveston, Texas.

A. R. Schwartz, a Jewish Texan politician, was born in Galveston, Texas. Schwartz attended Texas A&M University and the University of Texas School of Law. He is married to the former Marilyn Cohn of Harlingen, Texas, and they have four sons: Bob and Dick Schwartz, both of whom live in Houston, John Schwartz, who lives in New Jersey, and Tom Schwartz, who lives in Florida.

As a legislator, he specialized in legislation to protect the environment and manage the resources of coastal areas, and earned a reputation as a fiery liberal speaker and a wit. In Molly Ivins's book "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?," Ivins referred to Schwartz as a "white-maned pixie" and called him one of the legislature's "excellent orators." Reporter Patricia Kilday Hart referred to Schwartz in the Houston Chronicle "as one of the most liberal, yellow-dog Democrats ever to serve in the Texas Legislature." In "[Confessions of a Maddog: A Romp Through the High-Flying Texas Music and Literary Era of the Fifties to the Seventies]", Jay Dunston Milner referred to Schwartz, along with Bob Eckhardt, John Henry Faulk, Maury Maverick, Jr. and others, as being among those in the 1960s who "fought the good fight against the Philistines. They lost most of the time, of course--the Philistines were in the majority. But they won a skirmish here and a point there, anyway, which was better than nothing." Texas Monthly took note, stating that during the sixties and seventies, the best entertainment the Capitol had to offer was the oratory of Galveston senator A. R. "Babe" Schwartz. Schwartz was also named one of the "Ten Best Legislators" by Texas Monthly four times. The first time, in 1973, the magazine called him "the most complex, remarkable man in the Senate" and "one of the most consistently influential members." As a legislator, Schwartz was known for his spirited feuds, in particular with fellow state senators William T. "Bill" Moore of Bryan, called "the Bull of the Brazos" and William Neff Patman, son of former U.S. Representative Wright Patman. In a dispute with Hilmar Moore, the longtime mayor of Richmond, Texas, over Moore's appointment to the state's Public Welfare Board, Schwartz said, “You can have that job over my dead body.” Moore replied, “Senator, I can’t think of any other way I’d rather have it.”

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