Donald William Samuelson (July 27, 1913 – January 20, 2000) was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th

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 ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Early life and education

Born in

Woodhull, Illinois Woodhull is a village in Henry County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 754. History The town was laid out by Maxwell Woodhull on September 30, 1857. An addition was laid out in 1867, and another in 1870. That same ...

, Samuelson grew up on a farm, and attended Knox College.

Career

Samuelson served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

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 ...

as a weapons instructor and

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very ...

at the

Farragut Naval Training Station Farragut Naval Training Station was a U.S. Navy training center during World War II in the Western United States. It was located in Northern Idaho at the south end of Lake Pend Oreille at Bayview, between Coeur d'Alene and The base was named ...

, a major inland training facility at

Lake Pend Oreille Lake Pend Oreille ( ) in the northern Idaho Panhandle is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Idaho and the 38th-largest lake by area in the United States, with a surface area of . It is long, and deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deep ...

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

. After the war, Samuelson stayed in the area; he brought his family out from Illinois and opened a sporting goods store in nearby

Sandpoint Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 9,777 as of the 2022 census. Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products, light manufacturing, tourism, recre ...

. He also had an interest in a business that sold and leased mining and logging equipment.

Governor of Idaho

A conservative, Samuelson was encouraged by Governor Robert Smylie to run for the

state senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

in 1960; Samuelson won and was re-elected in 1962 and 1964. After the Democratic landslide of

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 ...

, he decided to run for governor in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, which was still held by three-term incumbent Smylie, a moderate Republican from

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

and former

state attorney general The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the District of Columbia, federal district, or of any of the Territories of the United States, territories is the chief legal advisor to the State governments of the United States, sta ...

. In a heated race that drew national attention to the Republican gubernatorial

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

, Samuelson won handily, 61 to 39%. Following their wins in the early August primary, Samuelson and attorney Charles Herndon of

Salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

were slated to face each other in the November general election. In mid-September, while flying from

Pocatello Pocatello () is the county seat of and the largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, containing the city's airport. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metro ...

to Coeur d'Alene, Herndon and two others were killed in a private plane crash in the central Idaho mountains, northwest of The pilot of the twin-engine

Piper PA-23 The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined general aviation light aircraft, used also in small numbers by the United States Navy and military forces in other countries. Originally designed as the ...

was the only survivor. Occurring only seven weeks before the election, the Democrats nominated the runner-up in the primary, state senator

Cecil Andrus Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served as 26th and 28th List of Governors of Idaho, governor of Idaho, for a total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as United States Secretary of ...

of Orofino, whom Samuelson defeated by over 10,000 votes. During the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, Samuelson supported

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...

mining in central Idaho's

White Cloud Mountains The White Cloud Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains of the Western United States, western United States, located in central Idaho, southeast of Stanley, Idaho, Stanley in Custer County, Idaho, Custer County. The range is located within the ...

, and was defeated for re-election by Andrus, a staunch opponent of the mining development, and returned to private life. Following Samuelson's win in 1966, Democrats won the next six gubernatorial elections in Idaho, through

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Personal life

He and his wife, Ruby A. Samuelson, were married in 1936 and had two children. Samuelson died at age 86 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on January 20, 2000, at the

Swedish Medical Center Swedish Health Services (formerly Swedish Medical Center) is a nonprofit healthcare provider in the Seattle metropolitan area. It operates five hospital campuses (in the Seattle neighborhoods of First Hill, Cherry Hill and Ballard, and the ci ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. He is interred at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint, Idaho.

References

External links

National Governors Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Don 1913 births 2000 deaths Methodists from Idaho Republican Party governors of Idaho Gunsmiths People from Henry County, Illinois People from Sandpoint, Idaho 20th-century members of the Idaho Legislature