Ernest O. Thompson, a third-generation Texan born in Alvord, became an acknowledged world leader in petroleum conservation. He left college to enter service in World War I and earned a battlefield commission as a lieutenant colonel, at the time the youngest in the American Army. In 1930 he gained national acclaim as the crusading mayor of Amarillo. Appointed to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1932, he served by election until 1966. From a prior career as a lawyer and hotel owner, he moved into public duty that sent him at once into East Texas during the world's greatest oil boom to enforce probation. At peril of his life, he shut off non-complying wells and made the petroleum industry respect Texas laws. He became a pioneer in conservation practices. With prompting from President Franklin Roosevelt, he led in 1934 in founding the Interstate Oil Compact Commission. In Paris in 1937, he represented the United States at the World Petroleum Congress. By presidential order he was returned to Texas by the army in World War II to insure oil supplies for Allied military forces. In 1951 he was awarded the American Petroleum Institute Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement. As an international authority on oil, a key to world trade, he had great influence on the course of history.