Who are the greatest governors from your state (of all time)?

[elperromagico]

Arkansas: Winthrop Rockefeller (one of the last of the "Liberal Republicans") - helped to tear down the conservative Democrat Old Guard in the state, and pushed for civil rights in the state.

Dale Bumpers - passed a lot of the legislation Rockefeller had been unable to during his time in office, and was a strong progressive governor.

I leave Clinton off because, much like during his Presidency, Clinton seemed to pursue a more moderate course in his policies (especially after his defeat at the hands of Frank White in 1980).

How about your state?

[wryter2000]

1. Here's a weird one

Earl Warren was the governor of California who 1) interned the Japanese in the desert and 2) enacted the loyalty oath. Two of the darkest things in the US 20th century. Yet, he went on to be a pretty good Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Go figure.

[elperromagico]

2. And he is (IIRC) the only governor elected

as a Republican, a Democrat, and a Progressive. He entered all three primaries (CA law at the time allowed for it), and won them all. I think he got something like 91% of the vote in the general election.

[Kanary]

6. Interesting history....... thanks for posting cuz I didn't know that

Dang, I guess that means almost anyone is redeemable..

:)

Kanary

[PoliticsSportsMusic]

18. The Warren Commision was a joke...

he may have been a good man but his name will always be on that document....wouldn't want my name associated with that drivel for all eternity,makes the 911 commision almost look reasonable.

[mark414]

3. Fightin' Bob LaFollette!

Wisconsin used to be one of the most progressive states in the country back around the early 1900's...and then in 2000 Bush only lost the state by 6,000 votes...*sigh*

[Solly Mack]

4. Jimmy Carter! for obvious reasons and Carl Sanders

because he's a relative by marriage :)

...and he wasn't a bad governor either

[NWHarkness]

5. Michigan

Frank Murphy (1937-38) Helped labor achieve one of it's greatest victories when he refused to stop the sit down strikes. Reformed state government, build hospitals all over the state and founded the first Consumer Affairs Bureau in the nation. An early advocate of civil rights, served as Attorney general under FDR, and then a justice of the Supreme Court.

G. Mennan (Soapy) Williams (1949-60) A great New Dealer. Improved social programs on every level. Champion of civil rights, appointed first black judges and state department heads. Built the Mackinac Bridge.

James Blanchard (1983-91) Saved the state from bankruptcy. Instituted forward looking economic diversification, job training and educational reforms, most of which were sadly swept away by the reactionary Engler regime.

Honorary mention: Jennifer Granholm. She's going to do great things.

[stavka]

12. I'd have to say Milliken (Rep.) was a decent man.

Michigan is four states - Detroit, UP, West Michigan, and those that know better. Makes for very wierd politics

[5thGenDemocrat]

33. Austin Blair, the Civil War governor

Who was a fine American patriot in the best sense of the word and who literally went bankrupt in the office. There is but one statue of a politician on the capitol lawn in Lansing and, properly, it is of Blair.
Also, Stevens T Mason, our first governor (at age 22 -- still the youngest governor in American history. Bill Clinton was the third-youngest). He was known as "The Boy Governor," a nickname he hated -- once punching out the editor of a Detroit paper who called him that in print. He died at 31.
Michigan also had Luren Dickinson who, well into his eighties, was one of the two or three oldest governors in history.
In my lifetime, G Mennen ("Soapy") Williams, who was born into the Mennen toiletries fortune, who was president of the Young Republicans at Princeton before maturing and switching his allegiance to the Dems, and who called square dances out on the campaign trail.
Needless to say, square dances went over better in small towns like Omer and Caro and Middleville than dry stump speeches did. Soapy won re-election six times (IIRC) and would've been elected again had JFK not named him special ambassador to Africa. He called square dances over there, too, and by all accounts they went over famously.
And certainly Bill Milliken -- one of the finest and most decent men ever to sit in the governor's chair and one of the only Republican votes I've ever cast in my life (and was and still am proud to have done so).
John
Michigan governors, as a group, are pretty interesting. I'll also mention, in passing, such characters as Chase Osborn ("The Iron Hunter") and Hazen Pingree (a so-so governor, but the greatest mayor in Detroit's history and arguably the first progressive in America -- even before Tom Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt and Fighting Bob LaFollette).
Finally, we also had George Romney (the father of the current Dickstain-in-Chief of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), who was actually an above-average governor as well. His appointment to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development (by Nixon) led to Bill Milliken's ascendence to Chief Executive and that worked out pretty well for us Michiganians.

[FarLeftRage]

7. In New York

Off the top of my head:

DeWitt Clinton, for the Erie Canal.

The Roosevelts - Teddy & Franklin.

Al Smith - led New York in the 1920's & 1930's.

I'm sure there are others, but I just can't think of them at the moment.

[Kanary]

8. Colorado -- Ralph Carr, 1939-1943

I don't know about "greatest"........ those labels usually don't hold up.

However, since learning about Governor Carr, I've had a tremendous amount of respect for him, and very glad that the people of Colorado elected him at this time in our history.

He was the governor when the American Japanese citizens were shipped off to prisoner camps, some of which were located in Colorado. He had the integrity to remind Coloradoans that these people "shared only race with the enemy", and did what he could to treat them as human beings.

Colorado thanked him for his great patriotism by voting him out of office. :thumbsdown:

Oh yes....... he was a Republican. In those days, Republicans sometimes showed heart, courage, and support for ALL citizens.

It is my understanding that this is why, to this day, most Colorado Japanese vote Republican.

:crazy:

Kanary

[RoyGBiv]

9. George Nigh

Oklahoma governor from 1979-1987.

I say this mostly because he managed to take us through the Reagan years and the oil bust without the state totally imploding. My mother worked in vocational rehabilitation at the time, and this was high among the list of services state Republicans wanted to kill. He somehow managed to prevent them from doing it.

But, there were a lot of things about Nigh I didn't like either.

I think Oklahoma has the distinction of having the most governors of any state to be impeached, and we haven't been a state even 100 years. This tells you something about the pool I get to pick from.

[MaineDem]

10. Edmund S Muskie

(My same answer as the Senator question)

Muskie won the Governor's race 50 years ago this year ending 100 years of GOP rule in Maine. It turned the political establishment on its ear! We've come a long way since then.

[stevedeshazer]

11. Tom McCall, Oregon governor

http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/governors/McCall/mccallbiography.htm

A Republican.

Land use laws protecting farmland. Public beaches for all. The first law requiring a bottle deposit. Clean rivers. Progressive tax reform. Energy conservation.

A Republican I could vote for. What happened? Thirty years of religious extremism and corporate greed.

[MissB]

29. Hands down, the best

He would be vilified by the current batch of Oregon Republicans.

[stevedeshazer]

32. No doubt about it

Tom would have tossed guys like Kevin Mannix and Jeff Kropf out of his office. :)

[WoodrowFan]

13. in VIRGINIA??

geeze, James Monroe in 1811?? (Wilder was good)

[Mr.Green93]

14. A.B.Chandler, Ky.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Not the greatest, but maybe the weirdest.

Jesse Ventura.

[DaveOinSF]

17. I'll see your Jesse

And raise you an Arnold

[PoliticsSportsMusic]

16. I 'm not sure,but no doubt about who was the worst...I live in Texas...n/t

[lpbk2713]

19. Walkin' Lawton Chiles --- Florida

He got that nickname back when he first campaigned for senator (which he won several times, and then went on to become governor just before that damn Texan Jebbie won)anyway......... where was I?...... During his senatorial campaign he walked from one end of the state to the other. Made a lot of friends and won a lot of votes along the way. He was a good governor and a thoroughly decent man as well. He brought dignity to politics. Something you don't see that much of any more.

[JohnLocke]

24. Yes, Walkin' Lawton.

I miss you...

[bobbieinok]

20. colorful.....Alfalfa Bill Murray in OK

[bobbieinok]

21. very interesting......Ma Ferguson from TX

Timeline



January 20, 1925 -
January 17, 1927
Born: Miriam Amanda Wallace was born in Bell County in 1875.

Early Career: Miriam Wallace attended Salado College and Baylor Female College. In 1899 she married James E. Ferguson, with whom she had two daughters. Her political involvement was minor during her husband's terms in office (1915-1917). But in 1924, after "Pa" Ferguson was denied a place on the ballot, "Ma" Ferguson announced her own candidacy. Her campaign, under the slogan "Two governors for the price of one," was fiscally conservative, anti-Klan, anti-prohibition, and aimed at the vindication of James Ferguson's reputation. Ferguson was the first woman to be elected state governor, but the second woman governor to be inaugurated (after Wyoming's Nellie T. Ross) in the United States.

Accomplishments: Her first administration was noted for the unusually large number of pardons granted (averaging one hundred per month), the prohibiting of wearing masks in public (aimed at the Ku Klux Klan), and the frequent charges that she was open to graft and corruption. In 1926 she was defeated in the primary by Dan Moody.

Later years: Miriam Ferguson became governor again in 1933.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

22. Huey Long!!! Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and ......

was a great senator!!!! "Share the Wealth"

http://www.ssa.gov/history/longsen.html

[stevedeshazer]

25. I'll give it up for Huey

Every man a King!

[leyton]

23. Jim Hunt.

Interesting tidbit about NC governors: for 28 years, we had a governor named Jim. Jim Holshouser (73-77), Jim Hunt (77-85), Jim Martin (85-93) and Jim Hunt again (93-01). Jim Hunt and Jesse Helms were the state's political giants during the late 20th century... needless to say, Jim Hunt was the good guy.

[Jackson4Gore]

26. Tennessee

Ned McWherther and Phil Bredesen

[MisterP]

27. Calif. Hiram Johnson or maybe Gerry Brown

[Shopaholic]

28. South Carolina: Dick Reilly

later head of the Dept of Education under Bill Clinton.

[KamaAina]

30. John Burns, the founder of modern Hawai'i.

Honorable mention to George Ariyoshi, who forged the lasting economic ties between our state and Japan.

(Sigh) It's all been downhill since then...

[LiberalTechie1337]

31. Indiana

I don't know much about our history of governors, and the only 2 I have memory of are Evan Bayh and Frank O'Bannon, plus our current governor Joe Kernan (who succeeded O'Bannon after his death last fall) All were moderate Dems to my recollection