Rep. Chris Benge's election as speaker of the House marks only the second time in history that a Tulsan has held the office.
However, Tulsa's first speaker, Johnson D. Hill, resigned the post only six weeks after the start of the 1945 session.
Hill had vowed that if he did not succeed in getting the House to impeach the state superintendent of schools, A.L. Crable, that he would resign.
Hill was adamant that Crable and others had conspired in the 1930s to manipulate approved textbook lists and receive kickbacks in what early newspaper accounts referred to as the "textbook scandal." The suspected conspiracy amounted to textbook companies making only minor changes in texts, then requiring parents to buy "new" editions of textbooks for their children, with Crable and others getting a kickback. This occurred before the state started paying for students' textbooks in the public schools.
A federal court in Oklahoma City declined to hear the case. But Tulsa County District Attorney Dixie Gillmer tried to carry out indictments against Crable and others. Gillmer alleged that Dr. Henry G. Bennett, president of Oklahoma A&M College at Stillwater, was involved in the conspiracy because a textbook he had written was revised with few changes made.
However, the indictments were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
Hill revived the controversy when he became speaker, vowing that he would resign if he did not succeed in getting the House to impeach Crable. Hill's efforts failed, so he resigned on Feb. 15, 1945.
Hill later ran for governor and also made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor. He died in 1977 at the age of 89.
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