Clinton Clauson

Clinton Clauson

Clinton Amos Clauson (March 28, 1895 in Mitchell, Iowa – December 30, 1959 in Maine) was a Democratic Party politician and the 66th Governor of Maine.

He grew up in Iowa and served in World War I in early adulthood. He later became a member of many organizations including Freemasonry, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Newcomen Society of the United States.[1] In 1919 he graduated from the Palmer College of Chiropractic and later set up a practice in Waterville, Maine. He entered politics in 1928 as a member of the Democratic State Committee. After that he rose in Waterville's politics and in 1956 became mayor. He served for a year as mayor before being elected Governor dying while in office in 1959.[2]

As a politician he was deemed to be a conservative Democrat. His election victory surprised many in Maine as Edmund Muskie's favorite had been expected to win and the Republican challenger was the better known Horace A. Hildreth. In an obituary his career had been termed "unorthodox."[3] This is because he immigrated to Maine from Iowa as a young man, rose from obscurity to win the 1958 Democratic gubernatorial nomination as a conservative Democrat over the favorite of Maine liberals led by Governor Edmund Muskie, and went on to defeat a Republican opponent who was a heavy favorite. His death led to State Senate President John H. Reed, a Republican, becoming governor.

References

  1. ^ Political Graveyard's section on Chiropractors in politics
  2. ^ National Governor's Association
  3. ^ Time Magazine

External links

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Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Haskell		 Governor of Maine
1959		 Succeeded by
John H. Reed


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