Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009) was an American Republicanpolitician from the U.S. State of
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. A member of the Oklahoma Legislature, he went on to become both the 18th and 23rd governor of Oklahoma, mainly in the 1960s and again in the 1980s, as well as a two-term United States Senator in the 1970s. He was the first Republican to serve as Governor of Oklahoma and, after his direct predecessor George Nigh, only the second governor to be reelected.
A World War II veteran, Bellmon served a single term in the
Oklahoma House of Representatives
The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's b ...
, before running for governor. After serving in the U.S. Senate, he returned to serve again as governor and was responsible for passing a large education reform package. He died in 2009 after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease.
Early life and career
Bellmon was born in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and graduated from Billings High School in
Billings, Oklahoma
Billings is a town in northwest Noble County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 509 at the 2010 census, an increase from the figure of 436 in 2000. It was the childhood home of Oklahoma governor Henry Bellmon.Oklahoma State University) in 1942 with a bachelor's degree in agriculture. He was a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1946. He was a tank platoon leader in the
Pacific Theater
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
amphibious landing
Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high.
...
. For his service, he was awarded the
Legion of Merit
The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
and a
Silver Star
The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
. After the war he returned to farming and took up politics.
Bellmon served a single term in the
Oklahoma House of Representatives
The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's b ...
from 1946 to 1948. In January 1947, he married Shirley Osborn, to whom he remained married until her death in 2000. In 1960 he served as the State Republican Party Chairman.
Governor of Oklahoma
In 1962, beating the studied journalist and well known constructor Bill Atkinson with 392,316 votes (55.3%), Bellmon became Oklahoma's first Republican governor since statehood in 1907. While governor, he served as the chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission and as a member of the executive committee of the
National Governor's Association
The National Governors Association (NGA) is an American political organization founded in 1908. The association's members are the governors of the 55 states, territories and commonwealths. Members come to the association from across the politica ...
.Henry Bellmon at the
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates from ...
. He also pardoned a killer from the Osage murders despite protest from the Osage tribe. He was unable to run for reelection in 1966; at the time, Oklahoma did not allow governors to immediately succeed themselves. Republican
Dewey F. Bartlett
Dewey Follett Bartlett Sr. (March 28, 1919 – March 1, 1979) was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1971, following his fellow Republican, Henry Bellmon. In 1966, he became the first Roman Cat ...
was elected as his successor.
United States Senate
In 1968, he was serving as the national chairman for Richard Nixon's presidential election campaign, but then decided to run for the U.S. Senate, and won, unseating U.S. Senator
A.S. Mike Monroney
Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney (March 2, 1902February 13, 1980) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Oklahoma from 1951 to 1969, and previously as the United States representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional ...
."Former Oklahoma Gov. Henry Bellmon dies" , '' The Oklahoman'', September 29, 2009.
His 1974 contest was far closer and ultimately was resolved by the Senate. On election night, He led Rep. Ed Edmondson by only 3,835 votes. Edmondson challenged the result alleging irregularities in the voting, specifically that
Tulsa County
Tulsa County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in Oklahoma, behind only Oklahoma County. Its county seat and largest city is Tulsa, the secon ...
did not have levers to allow
straight-ticket voting
In American politics, straight-ticket voting or straight-party voting refers to the practice of voting for every candidate that a political party has on a general election ballot. The term can also refer to a straight-ticket voting option, some ...
, as required under state law, and that the machines had misleading instructions. The
Oklahoma Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma.
ruled that there were problems, but Edmondson could not demonstrate that they would have changed the result. Edmondson then appealed to the Senate in January 1975, asking it to take up the challenge. Although the Senate voted to seat Bellmon, this was done without prejudice to the challenge.
The Senate investigated the election and the Rules and Administration Committee voted along party lines on a report that it could not identify who won the election. The full Senate would have to decide how to proceed. Both candidates made their cases on the floor and nine Democrats voted along with all the Republicans to end the challenge and seat Bellmon. Although the Democratic Party had a 62–38 majority, seven Democrats were not in Washington and did not vote.
He did not run for a third term in 1980. During his service in the Senate, he sometimes took moderate positions that put him at odds with the largely conservative Oklahoma Republican Party: he supported
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 ...
over
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. that addresses federal budget and fiscal issues. It was founded in 1981 by former United States Representatives Robert Gia ...
. He chose not to run for re-election in 1980 and was succeeded by Republican Don Nickles.
Bellmon was appointed the interim director of the
Oklahoma Department of Human Services
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) is an agency of the government of Oklahoma. Under the supervision of the Oklahoma Secretary of Health and Human Services, OKDHS is responsible for providing help to individuals and families in nee ...
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, in 1982.
Return to governorship
As the tenures of Bellmon and his party colleague Bartlett had been followed by four terms of Democratic rule, Oklahoma Republican leaders asked him in 1986, if he would consider running for governor again. Bellmon agreed to run, and he narrowly won the election in November with 431,762 votes (47.5%) over David Walters (405,295; 44.5%). He served from January 12, 1987, to January 14, 1991. During his second tenure as governor he chaired the Southern States Energy Board.
During his second term, Bellmon worked with Democrats in the Oklahoma legislature to pass an educational reform package, House Bill 1017, over the opposition of most Republicans. Though the state constitution had been amended in 1966 to allow governors to succeed themselves, Bellmon chose not to seek reelection in 1990. He would have been eligible for a third term, since 8-year lifetime term limits were not enacted until 2010. The Republican candidate to replace him, Bill Price, promised to repeal HB 1017. However, Price was defeated by David Walters, whom Bellmon had defeated four years earlier.
Death penalty
Bellmon is notable for overseeing as governor both Oklahoma's last pre-'' Furman'' execution (when James French was electrocuted in 1966) and its first post-''Furman'', when Charles Coleman was put to death by
lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital puni ...
in 1990.
Later years
Bellmon returned to his agriculture business interests. Bellmon also taught at Oklahoma City University,
Central State University
Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...
, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Oklahoma. Shirley Bellmon died in 2000; Bellmon married a longtime friend, Eloise Bollenbach, in 2002. A March 1, 2009, profile in '' The Oklahoman'' reported that he was living with Eloise in Kingfisher, Oklahoma; the article also reported that, despite suffering from Parkinson's disease and a heart ailment, Bellmon was still operating his family farm in Billings.
He was inducted into the
Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame
The Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame is an award given to individuals who, through their outstanding professional and personal achievements, have brought honor and distinction to Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, career and t ...
posthumously in 2011.
Death
Bellmon died September 29, 2009, in Enid, Oklahoma, at the age of 88 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
He is buried at the Union Cemetery in
Billings, Oklahoma
Billings is a town in northwest Noble County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 509 at the 2010 census, an increase from the figure of 436 in 2000. It was the childhood home of Oklahoma governor Henry Bellmon.Tulsa Southside Rotary Club an Sustainable Tulsa received permission from Bellmon's daughters to name th Henry Bellmon Sustainability Awards after Bellmon.
"Dad loved the land and never tired of teaching us about nature and its beauty and mystery. We hope to honor his legacy by teaching others and continuing to find better ways to live more sustainably with Earth." – Pat Hoerth, Ann McFerron, and Gail Wynne, Henry Bellmon's daughters