The thirty-second vice-president of the United States, John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner (1868-1967) was a wily Texas politician and master of the legislative process. He was also the most powerful man in Congress when he chose to join Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the Democratic ticket for the 1932 presidential election.

It is one of the most revered of US political traditions, but John Nance Garner actually was born in a log cabin near the town of Detroit, Texas, in the northeastern part of the state, on November 22, 1868. He was the son of a cavalryman under General Joseph Wheeler. Garner entered Vanderbilt University at age 18, but remained there only one semester before returning home. His reasons for leaving Vanderbilt are unknown though it has been speculated that Garner suffered from poor health during his short time there. Upon returning to Texas Garner studied law in the Clarksville, Texas office of...