Donald William Samuelson (July 27, 1913 – January 20, 2000) was an American

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician who served as the 25th

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Early life and education

Born in Woodhull, Illinois, Samuelson grew up on a farm, and attended Knox College.

Career

Samuelson 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 ...

during

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 opposing ...

as a weapons instructor and gunsmith at the

Farragut Naval Training Station Farragut Naval Training Station was a U.S. Navy training center during World War II in the Western United States. It was located in Northern Idaho at the south end of Lake Pend Oreille at Bayview, between Coeur d'Alene and The base was named ...

, a major inland training facility at

Lake Pend Oreille Lake Pend Oreille ( ) in the northern Idaho Panhandle is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Idaho and the 38th-largest lake by area in the United States, with a surface area of . It is long, and deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deep ...

in northern

. After the war, Samuelson stayed in the area; he brought his family out from Illinois and opened a sporting goods store in nearby Sandpoint. He also had an interest in a business that sold and leased mining and logging equipment.

Governor of Idaho

A conservative, Samuelson was encouraged by Governor Robert Smylie to run for the

state senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

in 1960; Samuelson won and was re-elected in 1962 and 1964. After the Democratic landslide of

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, he decided to run for governor in 1966, which was still held by three-term incumbent Smylie, a moderate Republican from

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

and former

state attorney general The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney gener ...

. In a heated race that drew national attention to the Republican gubernatorial primary, Samuelson won handily, 61 to 39%. Following their wins in the early August primary, Samuelson and attorney Charles Herndon of

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

were slated to face each other in the November general election. In mid-September, while flying from

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the P ...

to Coeur d'Alene, Herndon and two others were killed in a private plane crash in the central Idaho mountains, northwest of The pilot of the twin-engine

Piper PA-23 The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origi ...

was the only survivor. Occurring only seven weeks before the election, the Democrats nominated the runner-up in the primary, state senator

Cecil Andrus Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the ...

of Orofino, whom Samuelson defeated by over 10,000 votes. During the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, Samuelson supported molybdenum mining in central Idaho's

White Cloud Mountains The White Cloud Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, located in central Idaho, southeast of Stanley in Custer County. The range is located within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area (SNRA) and partially within ...

, and was defeated for re-election by Andrus, a staunch opponent of the mining development, and returned to private life. Following Samuelson's win in 1966, Democrats won the next six gubernatorial elections in Idaho, through

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

Personal life

He and his wife, Ruby A. Samuelson, were married in 1936 and had two children. Samuelson died at age 86 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on January 20, 2000, at the

Swedish Medical Center Swedish Health Services, formerly Swedish Medical Center, is the largest nonprofit health provider in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates five hospital campuses (in the Seattle neighborhoods of First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard, and th ...

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 ...

. He is interred at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint, Idaho.

References

External links

National Governors Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Don 1913 births 2000 deaths Methodists from Idaho Republican Party governors of Idaho Gunsmiths People from Henry County, Illinois People from Sandpoint, Idaho 20th-century American politicians