The 1940 Missouri gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1940 and resulted in a victory for the

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 ...

nominee,

Forrest C. Donnell Forrest Carl Donnell (August 20, 1884March 3, 1980) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator and the 40th governor of Missouri. Early life Donnell was born in Quitman, Missouri. Donnell graduated from Mar ...

, over the Democratic nominee, Lawrence "Larry" McDaniel, and candidates representing the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

Socialist Labor The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 1924 ...

parties. Democrats delayed Donnell's inauguration for six weeks as they unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the election result in an incident called the "Great Governorship Steal", which was ended by an order from the

Missouri Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Missouri is the highest court in the state of Missouri. It was established in 1820 and is located at 207 West High Street in Jefferson City, Missouri. Missouri voters have approved changes in the state's constitution to give ...

Democratic primary

Campaign

In the Democratic primary, Excise Commissioner of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Larry McDaniel defeated State Senator

Allen McReynolds Allen McReynolds (November 7, 1877 - September 29, 1960) was an American politician from Carthage, Missouri, who served in the Missouri Senate. He served in the Missouri National Guard. McReynolds was educated in Missouri public schools and at ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

. McDaniel had the support of the urban Democratic

political machines In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership con ...

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

and Mayor

Bernard F. Dickmann Bernard Francis Dickmann (September 7, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri – December 9, 1971 in Collins, Mississippi) was the 34th mayor of St. Louis from 1933 to 1941. Biography Dickmann started work at the age of 16, working for a lumber company in ...

in St. Louis, while McReynolds was supported by anti-machine reformists.

Results

Divisions among Democrats from the primary, along with reformist opposition to the Pendergast and Dickmann machines, allowed the Republican Donnell to obtain a narrow majority even as the state narrowly re-elected President

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and Senator

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, both Democrats.

Aftermath

Donnell's win was a disaster for the Democratic machines due to the governorship's control over judgeships, boards, and commissions that could be used for political

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

. Immediately after the election,

Missouri Democratic Party The Missouri Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its chair is Michael Butler, vice chair is Genevieve Williams, treasurer is Cydney Mayfield, and secretary is Manny Abarca. Mayfield has been th ...

chairman C. Marion Hulen claimed that

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

and vote-buying were responsible for Donnell's victory. On November 13, Hulen met with Senator

Bennett Champ Clark Joel Bennett Clark (January 8, 1890 – July 13, 1954), better known as Bennett Champ Clark, was a Democratic United States senator from Missouri from 1933 until 1945, and was later a circuit judge of the District of Columbia Circuit. He was ...

, St. Louis Mayor

, state Attorney General

Roy McKittrick Roy McKittrick (August 24, 1888 – January 22, 1961) was an American politician from Salisbury, Missouri, who served as Missouri Attorney General around the time of the World War II from 1933 until 1945. In 1944, he ran for the U.S. Senate, but ...

, St. Louis Democratic Party chairman

Robert Hannegan Robert Emmet Hannegan (June 30, 1903 – October 6, 1949) was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from October 1943 to January 1944. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 19 ...

, and others at the DeSoto Hotel in St. Louis, where they were suspected of strategizing how to overturn the election. One concern of the Democrats was that calling for a

recount An election recount is a repeat tabulation of votes cast in an election that is used to determine the correctness of an initial count. Recounts will often take place if the initial vote tally during an election is extremely close. Election reco ...

would allow Donnell to be seated provisionally as Governor and exercise the powers of the office. On December 30, Hulen proposed to the Democratic state committee in

Jefferson City Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the principa ...

that under Article V of the 1875

Missouri Constitution The Missouri Constitution is the state constitution of the U.S. State of Missouri. It is the supreme law formulating the law and government of Missouri, subject only to the federal Constitution, and the people. The fourth and current Missouri C ...

, the new governor could not be lawfully sworn in until the speaker of the state House of Representatives announced the results to the public, which he could decline to do on account of election fraud. On January 8, the state legislature voted for Joint Resolution No. 3, barring House Speaker Morris E. Osburn from proclaiming Donnell's election until a special joint legislative committee chaired by State Senator L. N. Searcy had re-examined the gubernatorial ballots for irregularities. Citing this resolution, Osburn refused to announce Donnell's election on January 10. On January 13, the date when all newly elected statewide officials were to start their term, Chief Justice Charles A. Leedy, Jr. swore in all statewide elected officials except for Donnell. Governor

Lloyd Stark Lloyd Crow Stark (November 23, 1886September 17, 1972) was an American businessman and politician who served as the List of governors of Missouri, 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. He was a member of the Democratic Party (United State ...

, an anti-machine Democrat who openly opposed the attempt to overturn the election results and had vetoed Joint Resolution No. 3, remained in office as a caretaker. The same day, Donnell and three lawyers affiliated with the state

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

filed two lawsuits, one to compel Osburn to announce Donnell as duly elected, and the other to bar the Searcy committee from examining any ballots. The cases were consolidated and argued before the Supreme Court on February 11. With public opinion decidedly against the Democrats, the court on February 19 unanimously ordered Osburn to tabulate and proclaim the election results as provided, bypassing the attempts at a legislative recount. Donnell was sworn in as Governor the next day. McDaniel formally requested a recount of the election on March 4. After initial retabulations indicated Donnell's margin of victory would grow beyond 7,000, McDaniel withdrew the request and conceded the election on May 21. The Searcy committee disbanded shortly afterward. The incident has been called the "Great Governorship Steal" in various sources.

References

{{1940 United States elections

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

November 1940 events 1940 in Missouri United States gubernatorial elections in the 1940s