Former Texas governor John Connally appeared in a Washington, D.C. federal court on Aug. 9, 1974 and pled not guilty to the charge of accepting an illegal cash payment to boost the price of milk.
Connally recovered from the near-fatal gunshot wound he suffered in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963 and resumed his duties as chief executive of the Lone Star State. The scuttlebutt in 1966 was that he intended to run for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent John Tower, whose 1960 election was seen as a fluke by most Democrats, but he deferred to ally Waggoner Carr. Tower made short work of the attorney-general in the first of three successful reelection bids.
In 1968 Connally held a press conference to announce his third term as governor would be his last. He declined to discuss his plans for the future other than to reveal he was returning to Houston to practice law.
