 Mexican-Americans won their first seats on the Austin school board in 1972 and the city council in 1975.During the early and mid-1930s, Austin experienced the harsh effects of the Great Depression.Nevertheless, the town fared comparatively well, sustained by its twin foundations of government and education and by the political skills of Mayor Tom Miller, who took office in 1933, and United States Congressman Lyndon Baines Johnson, who won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1937.