Alonzo M. Clark Explained

Alonzo Monroe Clark
Order1:16th
Office1:Governor of Wyoming
Term Start1:February 18, 1931
Term End1:January 2, 1933
Predecessor1:Frank Emerson
Successor1:Leslie A. Miller
Office2:8th Secretary of State of Wyoming
Governor2:Frank C. Emerson
Himself
Leslie A. Miller
Term Start2:January 3, 1927
Term End2:January 7, 1935
Predecessor2:Frank Lucas
Successor2:Lester C. Hunt
Birth Date:13 August 1868
Birth Place:Flint, Indiana, U.S.
Death Place:Thermopolis, Wyoming, U.S.
Restingplace:Carleton, Nebraska, U.S.
Party:Republican

Alonzo Monroe Clark (August 13, 1868 – October 12, 1952) was an American politician who was the 16th Governor of Wyoming from 1931 to 1933. A Republican, he took office after sitting governor Frank Emerson's death. He lost his re-election campaign.

Biography

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 300acres in Campbell County, Wyoming, and was a teacher.

In 1926, he was elected Secretary of State, and he was re-elected in 1930. When the then-current governor, Frank Emerson died, on February 18, 1931, just six weeks into his second term, Clark succeeded to the governorship. He took the oath of office after Emerson's Sunday funeral, which was three days later.[1] That November, he was defeated in the Republican primary, and resumed his term as Secretary of State. His loss in the primary remains the closest primary defeat for an incumbent Republican governor in United States history.[2]

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:[3]

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 Carleton, Nebraska.

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/03/03/news/casper/3365f5d269ba17318725712300792b81.txt Article
  2. Web site: A Failure to Launch? Kansas' Republican Gubernatorial Contest and the History of Incumbent Governor Primary Performance – Sabato's Crystal Ball. 9 August 2018 .
  3. http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=c7d450d2f1334010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD National Governos Association