Dewey F. Bartlett

This article is about the former Oklahoma governor. For his son, see Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr.

Dewey F. Bartlett
19th Governor of Oklahoma
In office January 9, 1967 – January 11, 1971
Lieutenant	George Nigh
Preceded by	Henry Bellmon
Succeeded by	David Hall
United States Senator from Oklahoma
In office January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	Fred Roy Harris
Succeeded by	David L. Boren
Member of the Oklahoma State Senate
In office 1962–1966
Personal details
Born	Dewey Follett Bartlett (1919-03-28)March 28, 1919 Marietta, Ohio
Died	March 1, 1979(1979-03-01) (aged 59) Tulsa, Oklahoma
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery 36°01′46.3″N 95°56′04.4″W
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ann Chilton Smith
Alma mater	Princeton University
Profession	Oilman
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch/service	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1942-1946
Battles/wars	World War II

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 same-party Republican predecessor, Henry Bellmon. In 1966, he became the first Roman Catholic elected governor of Oklahoma, defeating the Democratic nominee, Preston Moore of Oklahoma City. He was defeated for reelection in 1970 by Tulsa attorney David Hall in the closest election in state history. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1972 and served one term. In 1978, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and did not run for reelection that year. He died of the disease in 1979.

Early life

Dewey Follett Bartlett was born to David A. and Jessie Bartlett in Marietta, Ohio, and attended schools in Marietta and Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Following his graduation from Princeton University with a degree in geological engineering in 1942, he served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. After the war, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and held various jobs in farming, ranching, and the oil industry, inheriting ownership of the Tulsa-based Keener Oil and Gas Company from his father, David A. Bartlett.

Political career

Prior to becoming governor, he served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1962 to 1966.

As governor, Bartlett made major changes to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, pushed for school consolidation, and vetoed a school code bill. In 1970, he was the first Oklahoma governor eligible to seek a second term. In the general election, he was challenged by then-Tulsa County Attorney David Hall. In the closest gubernatorial election in state history, Hall unseated Bartlett by a vote of 338,338 to 336,157.

Following his defeat, he served for one term in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 1979 after winning the seat previously held by Democrat Fred R. Harris. He narrowly defeated U.S. Congressman Ed Edmondson in the 1972 election riding on President Richard Nixon's coattails. During his tenure in Congress, he took a conservative stance on most issues and championed oil and gas interests during the energy crisis of the 1970s. However, he suffered health problems and, rather than face a very difficult reelection against popular Democratic Governor David Boren, decided not to seek reelection. Two months after retiring from the U.S. Senate, he died in Tulsa from complications of lung cancer, and is buried in the city's Calvary Cemetery. In 1990 he was inducted into the Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame and in March, 2006, Congress passed a bill renaming the U.S. Post Office in Tulsa in his honor.

Family

Bartlett married Ann Smith, a native of Seattle, Washington on April 2, 1945 at Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, California. They had three children: Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr., Michael and Joanie.

His son, Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr. has served as the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 2009 until losing reelection to G. T. Bynum in 2016., as a former member of the Tulsa City Council from 1990 to 1994, and has inherited the Keener Oil and Gas Company from his father.

Further reading

• Bonner, Jeremy (2007). The road to renewal: Victor Joseph Reed & Oklahoma Catholicism, 1905-1971. CUA Press. ISBN 0-8132-1507-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Smith, James (1993). Strategic calling: the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1962-1992. CSIS. ISBN 0-89206-237-1. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• 100 Years of Oklahoma Governors Biography
• United States Congress. "Dewey F. Bartlett (id: B000200)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
• "Dewey F. Bartlett". Find a Grave. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Bartlett, Dewey
• Dewey F. Bartlett Collection and Photograph Collection at the Carl Albert Center
• Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ann Bartlett. First person interview conducted with Ann Bartlett, Dewey Bartlett's wife, on June 5, 2010. Original audio and transcript archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.