Alonzo M. Clark

Alonzo Monroe Clark (August 13 1868 – October 12 1952) was an American politician who was Governor of Wyoming from 1931 to 1933.

Clark was born in Flint, Indiana. He was raised and educated in Nebraska after his family moved there from Indiana. After graduating from Nebraska State Teachers College in 1898, he served as Superintendent of Schools for Dawes County, Nebraska before moving to Wyoming in 1901. He homesteaded more than convert|300|acre|km2 in Campbell county and was a teacher.

In 1926 he was elected Secretary of State. When the then-current governor, Frank Emerson died, on February 18 1931, just six weeks into his second term, the line of succession put State Secretary Clark into the post of acting governor until the next election to be held, November 1932. Clark officially took office after Emerson's Sunday funeral, which was three days later. [http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/03/03/news/casper/3365f5d269ba17318725712300792b81.txt] . That November, he was defeated in the Republican primary, and resumed his term as Secretary of State.

In 1934 he successfully secured the Republican nomination, but lost in the general election to the then-incumbent, Democrat Leslie A. Miller. He also campaigned unsuccessfully for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate

The National Governors Association noted [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=c7d450d2f1334010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD] : cquote|Serving during the Great Depression, Clark supported President Hoover’s position of state self-reliance. He also pressed for cooperative marketing of agricultural products and the repeal of prohibition, and fought unsuccessfully for termination of the sale of crude oil from federal lands in Wyoming.

He was married twice, first to Lucy M. Smith (who died in 1944) with whom he had one child, and then to Florence Russell.

He died on October 12 1952 in Thermopolis, Wyoming, aged 84, and is buried in Carlton, Nebraska.

External links

* [http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us/governor/clark.htm State of Wyoming's biography of Clark]