The Lasting Influence Of Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson

As much as any Texas Ranger who served in the last half century, Joaquin Jackson knew well what fellow Captain C.J. Havrda meant about being a part of history.

- Mark Boardman

That was surely the case up until the day Jackson died of cancer on June 15 in Alpine, Texas. He was 80. The lawman was a part of history from 1966 to 1993, working thousands of cases across the Lone Star State.

Jackson might have done as well at another point in history—say, in the real Ranger heydays. James L. Haley, who helped write Jackson’s second book, One Ranger Returns, says, “His love of open country, and horses, the thrills of chase, danger, adventure—he was aware that all those would have been heightened in the Old West. However, he certainly accepted that those days were over.”

But it can be fun, maybe even instructive, to wonder: what if Jackson had served in the early 1900s, and legendary Ranger Frank Hamer had done his Ranger work in the 1960s through the early ’90s? Could they have switched places? The similarities between the two lawmen are striking.

Both were Texas born and bred, cowboys who were born to the saddle and could handle a gun—just about any gun— with deadly accuracy.

Both were big guys who used size, a booming voice and steely gaze to their advantage—and they had strong tempers.

Both had experience in the Big Bend and Hill Country regions and did much work along the Rio Grande.

Both had strong personal honor codes which included treating people of all ethnicities and races fairly, having a compassion for the underdog and harboring a hatred of corrupt lawmen and officials.

They dealt with similar issues—rustling, smuggling, mob actions, border disputes, voter fraud, robbery,and violent crime.