Willard Duncan Vandiver (March 30, 1854 – May 30, 1932) was a Democratic member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from the state of

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. He is popularly credited with the authorship of the famous expression: "I'm from Missouri, you've got to show me," which led to the state's famous nickname: " The Show Me State". In an 1899 speech, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton,

cocklebur ''Xanthium'' (cocklebur) is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Heliantheae within the family Asteraceae, native to the Americas and eastern Asia and some parts of south Asia . Description Cockleburs are coarse, herbaceous annual plants ...

s and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri, and you have got to show me." This attribution is doubtful, however, as the phrase was current earlier in the 1890s, so it appears that Vandiver merely popularized it.Missouri Secretary of State's Office, ''Why Is Missouri Called the "Show-Me" State?'', http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/slogan.asp retrieved November 2013

Early life

Born near Moorefield, Virginia, now a part of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

, he moved to Missouri with his parents, who settled on a farm in Boone County in 1857, and to Fayette in 1872.

Academia

He graduated from Central College in 1877; studied law, and became a professor of

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

at the Bellevue Institute from 1877 to 1880 and served as its president in 1880–1889; accepted the chair of science in the Missouri State Normal School at

Cape Girardeau, Missouri Cape Girardeau ( , french: Cap-Girardeau ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540. The city is one of two principal citi ...

in 1889, and became its president in 1893 and served until 1897.

Politics

He was a delegate to the Democratic State conventions in 1896, 1898, 1918, and 1920 and served as chairman in 1918. Vandiver was elected as a Democrat to the

Fifty-fifth United States Congress The 55th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1897, to M ...

in 1896, and was re-elected three times. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1904. Vandiver served as chairman of the State executive committee in 1904, State insurance commissioner of Missouri 1905–1909, vice president of the Central States Life Insurance Co. 1910–1912, and Assistant

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage produc ...

in 1913–1921. He retired and settled on a farm near

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourt ...

. He died on May 30, 1932, and is buried in the Columbia Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vandiver, Willard Duncan Politicians from Columbia, Missouri People from Moorefield, West Virginia 1854 births 1932 deaths Central Methodist University alumni Educators from West Virginia Southeast Missouri State University faculty Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri People from Boone County, Missouri People from Columbia, Missouri People from Fayette, Missouri Burials at Columbia Cemetery (Columbia, Missouri) Educators from Missouri