Roger D. Branigin

Infobox Politician
name =Roger D. Branigin


birth_date= July 26, 1902
birth_place= Franklin, Indiana
death_date= November 19, 1975
death_place=
office3 =Governor of Indiana
order3 =42nd
term_start3 =January 11, 1965
term_end3 =January 13, 1969
predecessor3 = Matthew E. Welsh
successor3 =Edgar Whitcomb
spouse=Josephine Mardis
religion=American Baptist
alma mater = Franklin College, Harvard University Law School

Roger Douglas Branigin (July 26, 1902–November 19, 1975) was a Democratic governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from January 11, 1965 to January 13, 1969.

Biography

Born in 1902 in Franklin, Indiana, he graduated from Franklin College and Harvard University and had a law practice in Lafayette, Indiana. During his term as governor, the poll tax was lifted and the property tax on household goods was removed. His administration was also credited with weeding out a great deal of corruption in state government, and Branigin gained a national reputation for honesty and civic responsibility.

In the 1968 Presidential Election, Branigin ran as a favorite son candidate for president in the Indiana Democratic presidential primary, standing in for Lyndon B. Johnson, who had opted to avoid directly running against the insurgent candidate, Senator Eugene McCarthy (and, later, Senator Robert F. Kennedy). Widely popular across the state and controlling a large patronage army of state workers, Branigin was expected to win the primary by a large margin, and could then be counted on to pledge his delegate votes to Johnson at the Democratic convention in Chicago. After Johnson withdrew in the middle of the primary campaign, Branigin (who had been one of the few people outside of his inner circle whom Johnson had informed in advance that he would be dropping out of the race) remained in the primary and ran as an uncommitted favorite son for Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, who entered the campaign too late to meet the filing date to enter the Indiana primary; he eventually came in second in the spirited three-way race in the Indiana primary (Kennedy drew 42 percent to Branigin's 31 percent and McCarthy's 27 percent).

Branigin died on November 19, 1975. The Branigin Bridge is named in his honor. [ [http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2000/HRESP/HC0018.html Passed House Resolution 0018 ] ]

References

ee also

*List of Governors of Indiana

External links

* [http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/branigin.html Biography and Portrait from Indiana State Library]