Question: What Texan was the first secretary of the predecessor to the Department of Health and Human Services?
Answer: Oveta Culp Hobby, wife of popular governor William P. Hobby. Born in 1905 in Killeen, she developed an interest in politics at a young age as the daughter of lawyer and state legislator William Culp. She worked for several years as the parliamentarian for the Texas House of Representatives, marrying the 53-year-old former governor at the age of 26. In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed Hobby to the post of secretary of the newly created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which became the Department of Health and Human Services in 1979.
