Howell Appling Jr. (September 5, 1919 – October 16, 2002) was an American Republican politician and businessman in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, U.S.

Biography

Appling was born in 1919 in

Carthage, Texas Carthage is a city in and the county seat of Panola County, Texas, United States. The city is situated in deep East Texas, 20 miles west of the Louisiana state line. Its population was 6,569 at the 2020 census. History Carthage was founded in ...

. His father was Howell Appling Sr. He received a degree in engineering from

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in 1941 before joining the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant. In 1946, after completing his military service, Appling founded Independent Distributors, a Portland wholesale logging and farm equipment firm. Appling served as the

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The state's smallest and most populous county, it ...

chairman of

Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Factions in the Republican Party (United States)#Moderates, moderate Republican Party (United States), Republican, he se ...

's successful 1958 bid for

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

. After the election, Appling was appointed Secretary of State by Hatfield, who preceded him in that office. Appling was elected to a full term in 1960 (defeating

Monroe Sweetland Monroe Mark Sweetland (January 20, 1910 – September 10, 2006) was an American politician in the state of Oregon. A native of the state, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative Assembly starting in 1953 for a total of ten years. A De ...

) but declined to seek re-election in 1964. He was succeeded by

Tom McCall Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon, serving as the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A progressive Republican, he was known as a staunch environme ...

in January 1965. Appling served as the Oregon chairman of the Oregon

presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

campaigns of

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, and

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. He continued as a prominent Portland businessman until his death on October 16, 2002.

External links

Secretary of State Agency History, page 16
from the

Oregon Blue Book The ''Oregon Blue Book'' is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon prepared by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division. The ''Blue Book'' comes in both print and o ...

Entry from the Political Graveyard
1919 births 2002 deaths Secretaries of state of Oregon United States Navy personnel of World War II Portland, Oregon, Republicans Rice University alumni United States Navy officers Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon 20th-century Oregon politicians 20th-century American businesspeople {{Oregon-politician-stub