List of Governors of Oregon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article lists the individuals who have served as Governor of Oregon from the establishment of the Provisional Government in 1843 to the present day.

Number of Governors of Oregon by party affiliation
Party	Governors
Democratic	21
Republican	20
Whig	1
Independent	1

Meetings at Champoeg led up to the first constitution of the Oregon Country, and several petitions for U.S. territorial status. The resulting acts also created this body as a provisional government for the region. The first executives of this government were a three-person, elected committee known as the Executive Committee. In 1845, elections for a chief executive were held. The first person in Oregon to hold the title of governor was George Abernethy, a prominent businessman.

#	Name	Term
1	First Executive Committee	1843–1844
2	Second Executive Committee	1844–1845
3	George Abernethy	1845–1848

[edit] U.S. Territorial Governors (1848-1859)

Oregon became a U.S. Territory in 1848. Like most other U.S. territorial governments, Oregon's territorial governor was appointed by the President of the United States. As transportation and communications were not as reliable and fast as today's methods, there were times when a departing governor left office, but a new governor could not yet take over. This resulted in several local individuals acting as territorial governor until the new executive was appointed and arrived to take office.

#	Name	Party	Term	Appointed By
1	Joseph Lane	Democratic	1848–1850	James Polk
2	Kintzing Prichette	Democratic	1850	Acting Governor
3	John P. Gaines	Whig	1850–1853	Zachary Taylor
4	Joseph Lane	Democratic	1853	Acting Governor
5	George Law Curry	Democratic	1853	Acting Governor
6	John W. Davis	Democratic	1853–1854	Franklin Pierce
7	George Law Curry	Democratic	1854–1859	Franklin Pierce

[edit] State Governors (1859-Present)

#	Governor	Party	Took office	Left office
1	John Whiteaker	Democratic	March 3, 1859	September 10, 1862
2	A. C. Gibbs	Republican	September 10, 1862	September 12, 1866
3	George L. Woods	Republican	September 12, 1866	September 14, 1870
4	La Fayette Grover^[R]	Democratic	September 14, 1870	February 1, 1877
5	Stephen F. Chadwick	Democratic	February 1, 1877	September 11, 1878
6	W. W. Thayer	Democratic	September 11, 1878	September 13, 1882
7	Z. F. Moody	Republican	September 13, 1882	January 12, 1887
8	Sylvester Pennoyer	Democratic Populist	January 12, 1887	January 14, 1895
9	William Paine Lord	Republican	January 14, 1895	January 9, 1899
10	T. T. Geer	Republican	January 9, 1899	January 15, 1903
11	George Chamberlain^[R]	Democratic	January 15, 1903	March 1, 1909
12	Frank W. Benson^[U]	Republican	March 1, 1909	June 17, 1910
13	Jay Bowerman^[A]	Republican	June 17, 1910	January 11, 1911
14	Oswald West	Democratic	January 11, 1911	January 12, 1915
15	James Withycombe^[D]	Republican	January 12, 1915	March 3, 1919
16	Ben W. Olcott	Republican	March 3, 1919	January 8, 1923
17	Walter M. Pierce	Democratic	January 8, 1923	January 10, 1927
18	I. L. Patterson^[D]	Republican	January 10, 1927	December 22, 1929
19	A. W. Norblad	Republican	December 22, 1929	January 12, 1931
20	Julius L. Meier	Independent	January 12, 1931	January 14, 1935
21	Charles H. Martin	Democratic	January 14, 1935	January 9, 1939
22	Charles A. Sprague	Republican	January 9, 1939	January 11, 1943
23	Earl Snell^[D]	Republican	January 11, 1943	October 30, 1947
24	John H. Hall	Republican	October 30, 1947	January 10, 1949
25	Douglas McKay^[R]	Republican	January 10, 1949	December 17, 1952
26	Paul L. Patterson^[D]	Republican	December 27, 1952	February 1, 1956
27	Elmo Smith	Republican	February 1, 1956	January 14, 1957
28	Robert D. Holmes	Democratic	January 14, 1957	January 12, 1959
29	Mark Hatfield	Republican	January 12, 1959	January 9, 1967
30	Tom McCall	Republican	January 9, 1967	January 13, 1975
31	Robert W. Straub	Democratic	January 13, 1975	January 8, 1979
32	Victor G. Atiyeh	Republican	January 8, 1979	January 12, 1987
33	Neil Goldschmidt	Democratic	January 12, 1987	January 14, 1991
34	Barbara Roberts	Democratic	January 14, 1991	January 9, 1995
35	John Kitzhaber	Democratic	January 9, 1995	January 13, 2003
36	Ted Kulongoski	Democratic	January 13, 2003	Incumbent

Left office early:

^[U] Transferred powers to Acting Governor.

^[D] Died in office of natural causes.

^[R] Resigned.

Special circumstances:

^[A] Acting Governor

[edit] Other high offices held

This is a table of congressional seats, other federal offices, and other governorships held by governors. All representatives and senators mentioned represented Oregon except where noted. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.

Name	Gubernatorial term	U.S. Congress		Other offices held
Name	Gubernatorial term	House	Senate	Other offices held
Joseph Lane	1848–1850, 1853–1853 (territorial)		S	Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon Territory
John P. Gaines	1850-1853 (territorial)			U.S. Representative from Kentucky
John W. Davis	1853–1854 (territorial)			U.S. Representative from Indiana; United States Commissioner to the Great Qing Empire
John Whiteaker	1859–1862	H
George L. Woods	1911–1915			Governor of Utah Territory
La Fayette Grover	1866–1877	H	S*
William Paine Lord	1895–1899			United States Minister to Argentina
George Chamberlain	1903–1909		S*
Walter M. Pierce	1923–1927	H
Charles H. Martin	1935–1939	H
Douglas McKay	1949–1952			United States Secretary of the Interior*
Mark Hatfield	1959–1967		S
Neil Goldschmidt	1987–1991			United States Secretary of Transportation

[edit] Living former governors

As of December 2008^[update], five former governors were alive. The most recent governor to die was Robert W. Straub (1975–1979), on November 27, 2002.

Name	Gubernatorial term	Date of birth
Mark Hatfield	1959–1967	July 12, 1922
Victor G. Atiyeh	1979–1987	February 20, 1923
Neil Goldschmidt	1987–1991	June 16, 1940
Barbara Roberts	1991–1995	December 21, 1936
John Kitzhaber	1995–2003	March 5, 1947

[edit] References

[R]

[U]

[A]

[D]

List of Governors of Oregon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Provisional Government (1843-1848)

[edit] U.S. Territorial Governors (1848-1859)

[edit] State Governors (1859-Present)

[edit] Other high offices held

[edit] Living former governors

[edit] References

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