John Bowden Connally, Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993), was an American
politician. As a
Democrat he served as the 39th
Governor of Texas, as
Secretary of the Navy under President
John F. Kennedy, and as
Secretary of the Treasury under President
Richard M. Nixon. As Treasury Secretary, Connally is best remembered for removing the
U.S. dollar from the
gold standard in 1971, an event known as the
Nixon shock. On November 22, 1963, Connally, at the time the Governor of Texas, was a passenger in the car in which President
John F. Kennedy was
assassinated, and was seriously wounded during the shooting.