List of Governors of Massachusetts

The Seal and Flag of the Governor of Massachusetts

This is a list of the governors of Massachusetts who have presided over the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1780.

Colonial Massachusetts

Further information: List of colonial governors of Massachusetts

Commonwealth of Massachusetts: 1780–present

This is a complete list of governors of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Acting governors, denoted as "A" instead of numbered, are included when the Governor resigned or died. Acting governors show a vacancy in the lieutenant governorship. They remain as Lieutenant Governors and merely act as governor. Lieutenant governors in Massachusetts do not ascend to the governorship upon death or resignation of the governor.

#	Governor	Years	Party	Lieutenant Governor(s)	Electoral history
1	John Hancock	1780 – 1785	None	Thomas Cushing	Resigned due to illness (recurring gout), and to attempt to calm what became Shay's Rebellion.
A	Thomas Cushing	1785 – 1785	None	(himself)
2	James Bowdoin	1785 – 1787	None	Thomas Cushing
3	John Hancock	May 30, 1787 – October 8, 1793	None	Thomas Cushing (1787–1788)	Died
				Benjamin Lincoln (1788–1789)
				Samuel Adams (1789–1793)
4	Samuel Adams	October 8, 1793 – June 2, 1797	None	Moses Gill (1794–1799)	As lieutenant governor, acted as governor for unexpired term, and was later elected in his own right.
5	Increase Sumner	June 2, 1797 – June 7, 1799	Federalist		Died
A	Moses Gill	June 7, 1799 – May 20, 1800	None	(himself)	Died
A	Governor's Council	May 20, 1800 – May 30, 1800	None	(vacant)
6	Caleb Strong	May 30, 1800 – May 29, 1807	Federalist	Samuel Phillips, Jr. (1801–1802)
				Edward H. Robbins (1802–1806)
7	James Sullivan	May 29, 1807 – December 10, 1808	Democratic-Republican	Levi Lincoln, Sr.	Died
A	Levi Lincoln, Sr.	December 10, 1808 – May 1, 1809	Democratic-Republican	(himself)
8	Christopher Gore	May 1, 1809 – June 10, 1810	Federalist	David Cobb
9	Elbridge Gerry	June 10, 1810 – March 4, 1812	Democratic-Republican	William Gray
10	Caleb Strong	June 1812 – May 30, 1816	Federalist	William Phillips, Jr.
11	John Brooks	May 30, 1816 – May 31, 1823	Federalist
12	William Eustis	May 31, 1823 – February 6, 1825	Democratic-Republican	Levi Lincoln, Jr. (1823–1824)	Died
				Marcus Morton (1824–1825)
A	Marcus Morton	February 6, 1825 – May 26, 1825	Democratic-Republican	(himself)
13	Levi Lincoln, Jr.	May 26, 1825 – January 9, 1834	Democratic-Republican	Thomas L. Winthrop (1826–1833)
				Samuel Turell Armstrong (1833–1834)
14	John Davis	January 9, 1834 – March 1, 1835	Whig	Samuel Turell Armstrong	Resigned to become U.S. Senator
A	Samuel Turell Armstrong	March 1, 1835 – January 13, 1836	Whig	(himself)
15	Edward Everett	January 13, 1836 – January 18, 1840	Whig	George Hull
16	Marcus Morton	January 18, 1840 – January 7, 1841	Democratic
17	John Davis	January 7, 1841 – January 17, 1843	Whig
18	Marcus Morton	January 17, 1843 – January 1844	Democratic	Henry H. Childs
19	George N. Briggs	January 1844 – January 11, 1851	Whig	John Reed, Jr.
20	George S. Boutwell	January 11, 1851 – January 14, 1853	Democratic	Henry W. Cushman
21	John H. Clifford	January 14, 1853 – January 12, 1854	Whig	Elisha Huntington
22	Emory Washburn	January 12, 1854 – January 4, 1855	Whig	William C. Plunkett
23	Henry J. Gardner	January 4, 1855 – January 7, 1858	Know-Nothing	Simon Brown (1855–1856)
				Henry W. Benchley (1856–1858)
24	Nathaniel Prentice Banks	January 7, 1858 – January 3, 1861	Republican	Eliphalet Trask
25	John Albion Andrew	January 3, 1861 – January 4, 1866	Republican	John Z. Goodrich (1861)
				John Nesmith (1862)
				Joel Hayden (1863–1866)
26	Alexander H. Bullock	January 4, 1866 – January 7, 1869	Republican	William Claflin
27	William Claflin	January 7, 1869 – January 4, 1872	Republican	Joseph Tucker
28	William B. Washburn	January 4, 1872 – April 29, 1874	Republican	Joseph Tucker (1872–1873)	Resigned to become U.S. Senator
				Thomas Talbot (1873–1874)
A	Thomas Talbot	April 29, 1874 – January 7, 1875	Republican	(himself)
29	William Gaston	January 7, 1875 – January 6, 1876	Democratic	Horatio G. Knight
30	Alexander H. Rice	January 6, 1876 – January 2, 1879	Republican
31	Thomas Talbot	January 2, 1879 – January 8, 1880	Republican	John Davis Long
32	John Davis Long	January 8, 1880 – January 4, 1883	Republican	Byron Weston
33	Benjamin Franklin Butler	January 4, 1883 – January 3, 1884	Democratic	Oliver Ames
34	George D. Robinson	January 3, 1884 – January 6, 1887	Republican
35	Oliver Ames	January 6, 1887 – January 7, 1890	Republican	John Q. A. Brackett
36	John Q. A. Brackett	January 7, 1890 – January 8, 1891	Republican	William H. Haile
37	William E. Russell	January 8, 1891 – January 4, 1894	Democratic	William H. Haile (1891–1893)
				Roger Wolcott (1893–1894)
38	Frederic T. Greenhalge	January 4, 1894 – March 5, 1896	Republican	Roger Wolcott	Died
39	Roger Wolcott	January 1897 – January 4, 1900	Republican	(himself) (1896–1897)	As lieutenant governor, acted as governor for unexpired term, and was later elected in his own right.
				Winthrop M. Crane (1897–1900)
40	Winthrop M. Crane	January 4, 1900 – January 8, 1903	Republican	John L. Bates
41	John L. Bates	January 8, 1903 – January 5, 1905	Republican	Curtis Guild, Jr.
42	William Lewis Douglas	January 5, 1905 – January 4, 1906	Democratic
43	Curtis Guild, Jr.	January 4, 1906 – January 7, 1909	Republican	Ebenezer Sumner Draper
44	Ebenezer Sumner Draper	January 7, 1909 – January 5, 1911	Republican	Louis A. Frothingham
45	Eugene Foss	January 5, 1911 – January 8, 1914	Democratic	Louis A. Frothingham (1911–1912)
				Robert Luce (1912–1913)
				David I. Walsh (1913–1914)
46	David I. Walsh	January 8, 1914 – January 6, 1916	Democratic	Edward P. Barry (1914–1915)
				Grafton D. Cushing (1915–1916)
47	Samuel W. McCall	January 6, 1916 – January 2, 1919	Republican	Calvin Coolidge
48	Calvin Coolidge	January 2, 1919 – January 6, 1921	Republican	Channing H. Cox
49	Channing H. Cox	January 6, 1921 – January 8, 1925	Republican	Alvan T. Fuller
50	Alvan T. Fuller	January 8, 1925 – January 3, 1929	Republican	Frank G. Allen
51	Frank G. Allen	January 3, 1929 – January 8, 1931	Republican	William S. Youngman
52	Joseph B. Ely	January 8, 1931 – January 3, 1935	Democratic	William S. Youngman (1931–1933)
				Gaspar G. Bacon (1933–1935)
53	James Michael Curley	January 3, 1935 – January 7, 1937	Democratic	Joseph L. Hurley
54	Charles F. Hurley	January 7, 1937 – January 5, 1939	Democratic	Francis E. Kelly
55	Leverett Saltonstall	January 5, 1939 – January 3, 1945	Republican	Horace T. Cahill
56	Maurice J. Tobin	January 3, 1945 – January 2, 1947	Democratic	Robert F. Bradford
57	Robert F. Bradford	January 2, 1947 – January 6, 1949	Republican	Arthur W. Coolidge
58	Paul A. Dever	January 6, 1949 – January 8, 1953	Democratic	Charles F. Sullivan
59	Christian Herter	January 8, 1953 – January 3, 1957	Republican	Sumner G. Whittier
60	Foster Furcolo	January 3, 1957 – January 5, 1961	Democratic	Robert F. Murphy (1957–1960)
61	John A. Volpe	January 5, 1961 – January 3, 1963	Republican	Edward F. McLaughlin, Jr.
62	Endicott Peabody	January 3, 1963 – January 7, 1965	Democratic	Francis X. Belotti
63	John A. Volpe	January 7, 1965 – January 22, 1969	Republican	Elliot Richardson (1965–1967)	Resigned to be United States Secretary of Transportation.
				Francis W. Sargent (1967–1969)
64	Francis W. Sargent	January 22, 1969 – January 2, 1975	Republican	Donald R. Dwight	As lieutenant governor, acted as governor for unexpired term, and was later elected in his own right.
65	Michael Dukakis	January 2, 1975 – January 4, 1979	Democratic	Thomas P. O'Neill III
66	Edward J. King	January 4, 1979 – January 6, 1983	Democratic
67	Michael Dukakis	January 6, 1983 – January 3, 1991	Democratic	John Kerry (1983–1985)
				(vacant) (1985–1987)
				Evelyn Murphy (1987–1991)
68	William Weld	January 3, 1991 – July 29, 1997	Republican	A. Paul Cellucci	Resigned to be appointed Ambassador to Mexico, but the United States Senate did not confirm him for the post.
A	Paul Cellucci	July 29, 1997 – April 10, 2001	Republican	(himself) (1997–1999)	Resigned to become Ambassador to Canada.
69				Jane Swift (1999–2001)
A	Jane Swift	April 10, 2001 – January 2, 2003	Republican	(herself)
70	Mitt Romney	January 2, 2003 – January 4, 2007	Republican	Kerry Healey
71	Deval Patrick	January 4, 2007 – Incumbent	Democratic	Tim Murray	Not seeking re-election.

Other high offices held

This is a table of congressional and other federal offices held by governors. All representatives and senators mentioned represented Massachusetts. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.

Name	Gubernatorial term	U.S. Congress		Other offices held
		House	Senate
John Hancock	1787–1793, 1780–1785			Delegate to the Continental Congress (including twice as President of the Continental Congress)
Thomas Cushing	1785 (acting)			Delegate to the Continental Congress
Samuel Adams	1793–1797			Delegate to the Continental Congress
Caleb Strong	1800–1807, 1812–1816		S	Delegate to the Continental Congress
James Sullivan	1807–1808			Delegate to the Continental Congress, but did not attend
Levi Lincoln, Sr.	1808–1809 (acting)	H		U.S. Attorney General
Christopher Gore	1813–1816		S
Elbridge Gerry	1810–1812	H		Delegate to the Continental Congress, Vice President of the United States
William Eustis	1823–1825	H		Ambassador to the Netherlands, U.S. Secretary of War
Marcus Morton	1825 (acting), 1840–1841, 1843–1844	H
Levi Lincoln, Jr.	1825–1834	H
John Davis	1834–1835, 1841–1843	H	S*
Edward Everett	1836–1840	H	S	Ambassador to Great Britain, U.S. Secretary of State
George N. Briggs	1844–1851	H
George S. Boutwell	1851–1853	H	S	U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Nathaniel Prentice Banks	1858–1861	H		Speaker of the House
William B. Washburn	1874–1874	H	S*
Alexander H. Rice	1876–1879	H
John Davis Long	1880–1883	H		U.S. Secretary of the Navy
Benjamin Franklin Butler	1883–1884	H
George D. Robinson	1884–1887	H
Frederic T. Greenhalge	1894–1896	H
Winthrop M. Crane	1900–1903		S
Eugene Foss	1911–1914	H
David I. Walsh	1914–1916		S
Samuel W. McCall	1916–1919	H
Calvin Coolidge	1919–1921			Vice President of the United States, President of the United States
Alvan T. Fuller	1925–1929	H
James Michael Curley	1935–1937	H
Leverett Saltonstall	1939–1945		S
Maurice J. Tobin	1945–1947			U.S. Secretary of Labor
Christian Herter	1953–1957	H		U.S. Secretary of State
Foster Furcolo	1957–1961	H
John A. Volpe	1961–1963, 1965–1969			U.S. Secretary of Transportation*
Paul Cellucci	1997–2001			Ambassador to Canada*

Living former governors

As of April 2011, five former and acting governors were alive, the oldest being Michael Dukakis (1975–1979, 1983–1991, born 1933). The most recent governor to die was Edward J. King (1979–1983), on September 18, 2006.

Name	Gubernatorial term	Date of birth
Michael Dukakis	1975–1979, 1983–1991	November 3, 1933 (1933-11-03)
William Weld	1991–1997	July 31, 1945 (1945-07-31)
Paul Cellucci	1997–1999 (acting), 1999–2001	April 24, 1948 (1948-04-24)
Jane Swift	2001–2003 (acting)	February 24, 1965 (1965-02-24)
Mitt Romney	2003–2007	March 12, 1947 (1947-03-12)