Another Landslide

The Republican victory that swept the presidency and squeaked through the Congress took on landslide dimensions again among the state governors. Of the 30 gubernatorial seats up for election this fall, the two parties had 15 each. When the returns were all in last week, the Republicans held 20, the Democrats only ten. Among the 48 states in 1953 there will be 30 Republican, 18 Democratic governors.

The Republican winners:

Arizona: Howard Pyle*

Colorado: Dan Thornton*

Delaware: J. Caleb Boggs

Illinois: William G. Stratton

Indiana: George N. Craig

Iowa: William S. Beardsley*

Kansas: Edward F. Arn*

Maine: Burton M. Cross

Massachusetts: Christian A. Herter

Minnesota: C. Elmer Anderson*

Montana: J. Hugo Aronson

Nebraska: Robert B. Crosby

New Hampshire: Hugh Gregg

New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem*

North Dakota: C. Norman Brunsdale*

South Dakota: Sigurd Anderson*

Utah: J. Bracken Lee*

Vermont: Lee E. Emerson* Washington: Arthur B. Langlie*

Wisconsin: Walter J. Kohler Jr.*

The Democratic winners:

Arkansas: Francis Cherry

Florida: Dan McCarty

Michigan: G. Mennen Williams*

Missouri: Phil M. Donnelly

North Carolina: William B. Umstead

Ohio: Frank J. Lausche*

Rhode Island: Dennis J. Roberts*

Tennessee: Frank Clement

Texas: Allan Shivers*

West Virginia: William C. Marland

Among the upsets:

Massachusetts. Democratic Governor Paul A. Dever, keynoter at his party's convention last July, was beaten in a close race by Republican Christian A. (for Archibald) Herter. The governor-elect is 57, a Harvard man, married to the granddaughter of Charles Pratt, a partner of John D. Rockefeller the elder and one of the founders of Standard Oil. Herter, an able internationalist who did a stint with the State Department (Berlin, Brussels and Washington, 1916-19), once dabbled in publishing (Independent and Sportsman magazines), served in the Massachusetts legislature and has been in the U.S. Congress since 1943.

Montana. Republican Newcomer J. Hugo Aronson took the governorship from Democratic Incumbent John W. Bonner. Aronson, 61, known as the "galloping Swede," has had a rags-to-riches rise: a penniless immigrant from Sweden in 1911, he became a prosperous farmer and oilman, has served one term in the state legislature, campaigned for business principles in government. His cause was helped by Bonner's arrest for drunkenness in 1950 in New Orleans.

Not in the upset rank, but notable otherwise:

Michigan. The Democrats' Governor G. Mennen Williams was reelected, over the Republicans' Fred M. Alger Jr., by so small a margin (less than 8,000) that there will probably be a recount. In 1950, Williams squeezed in with a recount.

Vermont. Overwhelmingly (72%) for Ike, the Green Mountain State's voters nevertheless gave Republican Governor Lee Emerson something of a scare. They elected him to another term by a 3.7% margin, but the Democrats' defeated Robert W. Larrow got the biggest vote ever received by a Vermont Democrat. Reasons: 1) Emerson's highhanded removal of a former political rival, Peter A. Bove, from the state liquor control board, and 2) Emerson's insistence on a 15% income surtax which has built up what Vermonters think is an unnecessarily high treasury surplus.

Incumbent.

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