Daniel Jackson Evans (born October 16, 1925) is an American politician who served as the 16th governor of Washington from 1965 to 1977, and as

United States senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

representing Washington State from 1983 to 1989.Congressional Biography
accessed online August 13, 2007. As of 2022, Evans is only living former Republican governor of Washington. Described as a moderate Republican, particularly on social and environmental issues, Evans supported

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

for the Republican nomination for president in 1968 and refused to endorse

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

, despite giving the keynote address at that year's

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

.McHenry 2007, p. 24–25. He was considered for the Republican vice presidential nomination that year, as well as in 1976. As of 2022, he is the only living former Republican governor of Washington.

Early life and education

Evans was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington (where he has lived ), descended from a family that had first arrived in the Washington Territory in 1859; his grandfather had served in one of Washington's first state senates. He grew up in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, and attended Roosevelt High School.McHenry 2007, p. 24. As a young man, Evans was an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

,McHenry 2007, p.25. and served as a staff member and Hike Master at

Camp Parsons Chief Seattle Council (originally called Seattle Area Council) is the local council governing the scouting activities of the Boy Scouts of America in a large part of the Puget Sound and Seattle area, including almost all of the Olympic Peninsula. ...

, a well known Boy Scout camp in Washington State. As an adult, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

. After high school, he served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

1943–1946. He first entered the

V-12 Navy College Training Program The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II. Between July 1, 1943, and June 30, 1946, more than 125,000 participants were enrolled in 131 colleg ...

, and was stationed at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(UW), but was transferred eight months later to an

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

program at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He did not see combat; he was deployed to the Pacific shortly after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as a commissioned ensign on a succession of

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s, before returning to UW in 1946. Evans graduated from the

with degrees in civil engineering ( BS, 1948; MS, 1949). The UW later (in 2007) gave him the distinction of Alumnus Summa Laude Dignitatus, the highest distinction the university confers on its graduates. He returned to the

(1951–1953) before working as a

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

(1953–1956); in the latter capacity, he helped draw up the plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Political career

Having attended Toastmasters to improve his initially abysmal public speaking style, Evans served in the Washington State House of Representatives from 1957 to 1965 before being elected governor. Daniel J

Despite being a Republican and a self-styled conservative, Evans became known for his administration's

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

policies on

environmental protection Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment by individuals, organizations and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair dam ...

(he founded the country's first state-level Department of Ecology, which became Nixon's blueprint for the federal

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

) and strong support of the state's higher education system, including founding Washington's system of community colleges. In addition, he signed a bill to legalize abortion in the first four months of a pregnancy and fought unsuccessfully for a state

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

, two additional liberal positions. Evans served as governor from 1965 until 1977, the second to be elected to three terms, after

Arthur B. Langlie Arthur Bernard Langlie (July 25, 1900 – July 24, 1966) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Seattle, Washington and was the 12th and 14th governor of the U.S. state of Washington from 1941 to 1945 and 1949 to 1957. To date ...

, in Washington state history. A 1981

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

study named him one of the ten outstanding American governors of the 20th century. He declined to run for a fourth term in 1976. Current governor

Jay Inslee Jay Robert Inslee (; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representat ...

joined both Langlie and Evans, becoming the third Washington governor to serve three terms with his re-election victory in 2020.

Serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

Ted Bundy served as a campaign aide for Evans, and maintained a close relationship with the governor. During the 1972 campaign, Bundy followed Evans's Democratic opponent around the state, tape recording his speeches, and reporting back to Evans personally. A minor scandal later followed when the Democrats found out about Bundy, who had been posing as a college student. From 1977 to 1983, Evans served as the second president of

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a p ...

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

, which Evans had created in 1967 by signing a legislative act authorizing the formation of the college. The largest building on the Evergreen campus is named the Daniel J. Evans Library, in his honor. In 1983, Governor John Spellman appointed Evans to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, to fill a seat left vacant by the death of long-time senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson. Evans won a special election later that year against Mike Lowry, and filled the remainder of Jackson's unexpired term, retiring from politics after the 1988 elections. He was unhappy during his term in the Senate, writing in a 1988 column in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...

'' that "debate has come to consist of set speeches read before a largely empty chamber" and adding that he felt demoralized by "bickering and protracted paralysis". Evans voted in favor of

the bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

establishing Martin Luther King, Jr., Day as a federal holiday, and the

Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, or Grove City Bill, is a United States legislative act that specifies that entities receiving federal funds must comply with civil rights legislation in all of their operations, not just in the program ...

(as well as to override President Reagan's veto). Evans voted in favor of Robert Bork's nomination to the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

Later life

After leaving the Senate in 1989, Evans founded his own consulting firm, Daniel J. Evans Associates. Governor Mike Lowry appointed him to the Board of Regents of the

in 1993; Evans served as the board's president from 1996 to 1997, and in 1999, the

Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance is the school of public policy of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. The school is named after former Washington State Governor and U.S. Senator Daniel J. Evans. The Ev ...

at the University was named for him. Evans also went on to work in media, doing an editorial weekly on the

KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown section of Downtown Seattle, and its ...

newscasts from the early- to mid-1990s. In 2012, Evans was listed as a director of the Initiative for Global Development. His autobiography was published in 2022.

Wilderness preservation efforts

Evans was a

Boy Scout A Scout (in some countries a Boy Scout, Girl Scout, or Pathfinder) is a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split ...

whose early experiences hiking in the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

nurtured a life-long love of wilderness. Throughout his career, Evans has proven his dedication to the great outdoors in Washington State through his action. Evans was a crucial supporter, in 1968, when Congress created the North Cascades National Park. The then-governor persuaded President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

to sign 1976 legislation creating the

Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National Forest and Snoqualmie National Forest, and is approximately b ...

, when the U.S. Forest Service was urging a veto. As a U.S. senator, Evans sponsored the million-acre Washington Park Wilderness Act, and legislation creating the

Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the state ...

. In 1989, Evans co-founded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, with Mike Lowry. In 2017, Olympic Wilderness was renamed to

Daniel J. Evans Wilderness Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

, in honor of Evans.

Statewide races in Washington

1983 U.S. Senate election * Dan Evans - 672,326 * Mike Lowry - 540,981 1972 Washington gubernatorial election * Dan Evans - 747,825 * Al Rosellini - 630,613 1968 Washington gubernatorial election * Dan Evans - 692,378 * John J. O'Connell - 560,262 1964 Washington gubernatorial election * Dan Evans - 697,256 * Al Rosellini - 548,692

References

;Other sources *Eric McHenry, "Engineer of Change", ''Columns'' (the University of Washington alumni magazine), June 2007, p. 22–26.

External links

Congressional BiographyThe Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs
* , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Daniel Jackson 1925 births Living people 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American Congregationalists American autobiographers American people of Welsh descent Republican Party governors of Washington (state) Republican Party members of the Washington House of Representatives Military personnel from Seattle Politicians from Seattle Presidents of Evergreen State College Regents of the University of Washington Republican Party United States senators from Washington (state) United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II University of Washington alumni Writers from Seattle