List of Governors of Oregon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article lists the individuals who have served as Governor of Oregon from the establishment of the Provisional Government in 1843 to the present day.

1 Provisional Government (1843-1848)
2 U.S. Territorial Governors (1848-1859)
3 State Governors (1859-Present)
4 References

[edit] Provisional Government (1843-1848)

Meetings at Champoeg led up to the first constitution of the Oregon Country, and several petitions for U.S. territorial status. The resulting acts also created this body as a provisional government for the region. The first executives of this government were a three-person, elected committee known as the Executive Committee. In 1845, elections for a chief executive were held. The first person in Oregon to hold the title of governor was George Abernethy, a prominent businessman.

#	Name	Term
1	First Executive Committee	1843–1844
2	Second Executive Committee	1844–1845
3	George Abernethy	1845–1848

[edit] U.S. Territorial Governors (1848-1859)

Oregon became a U.S. Territory in 1848. Like most other U.S. territorial governments, Oregon's territorial governor was appointed by the President of the United States. As transportation and communications were not as reliable and fast as today's methods, there were times when a departing governor left office, but a new governor could not yet take over. This resulted in several local individuals acting as territorial governor until the new executive was appointed and arrived to take office.

#	Name	Party	Term	Appointed By
1	Joseph Lane	Democratic	1848–1850	James Polk
2	Kintzing Prichette	Democratic	1850	Acting Governor
3	John P. Gaines	Whig	1850–1853	Zachary Taylor
4	Joseph Lane	Democratic	1853	Acting Governor
5	George Law Curry	Democratic	1853	Acting Governor
6	John W. Davis	Democratic	1853–1854	Franklin Pierce
7	George Law Curry	Democratic	1854–1859	Franklin Pierce

[edit] State Governors (1859-Present)

#	Name	Party	Term
1	John Whiteaker	Democratic	1859–1862
2	A. C. Gibbs	Republican	1862–1866
3	George L. Woods	Republican	1866–1870
4	La Fayette Grover^[R]	Democratic	1870–1877
5	Stephen F. Chadwick	Democratic	1877–1878
6	W. W. Thayer	Democratic	1878–1882
7	Z. F. Moody	Republican	1882–1887
8	Sylvester Pennoyer	Democratic-Populist	1887–1895
9	William Paine Lord	Republican	1895–1899
10	T. T. Geer	Republican	1899–1903
11	George Chamberlain^[R]	Democratic	1903–1909
12	Frank W. Benson^[U]	Republican	1909–1910
13	Jay Bowerman^[A]	Republican	1910–1911
14	Oswald West	Democratic	1911–1915
15	James Withycombe^[D]	Republican	1915–1919
16	Ben W. Olcott	Republican	1919–1923
17	Walter M. Pierce	Democratic	1923–1927
18	I. L. Patterson^[D]	Republican	1927–1929
19	A. W. Norblad	Republican	1929–1931
20	Julius L. Meier	Independent	1931–1935
21	Charles H. Martin	Democratic	1935–1939
22	Charles A. Sprague	Republican	1939–1943
23	Earl Snell^[D]	Republican	1943–1947
24	John H. Hall	Republican	1947–1949
25	Douglas McKay^[R]	Republican	1949–1952
26	Paul L. Patterson^[D]	Republican	1952–1956
27	Elmo Smith	Republican	1956–1957
28	Robert D. Holmes	Democratic	1957–1959
29	Mark Hatfield	Republican	1959–1967
30	Tom McCall	Republican	1967–1975
31	Robert W. Straub	Democratic	1975–1979
32	Victor G. Atiyeh	Republican	1979–1987
33	Neil Goldschmidt	Democratic	1987–1991
34	Barbara Roberts	Democratic	1991–1995
35	John Kitzhaber	Democratic	1995–2003
36	Ted Kulongoski	Democratic	2003–Incumbent

Left office early:

^[U] Transferred powers to Acting Governor.

^[D] Died in office of natural causes.

^[R] Resigned.

Special circumstances:

^[A]Acting Governor

[edit] References

This article does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Governors of Oregon

Whiteaker • Gibbs • Woods • Grover • Chadwick • Thayer • Moody • Pennoyer • Lord • Geer • Chamberlain • Benson • Bowerman • West • Withycombe • Olcott • Pierce • I. Patterson • Norblad • Meier • Martin • Sprague • Snell • Hall • McKay • P. Patterson • Smith • Holmes • Hatfield • McCall • Straub • Atiyeh • Goldschmidt • Roberts • Kitzhaber • Kulongoski

	State of Oregon Salem (capital)
Topics	Flag \| Governors \| Constitution \| Law \| Congress \| Ballot measures \| Parks \| Fair \| Flower \| Tree \| Bird \| Oregon Trail \| Rivers
Regions	The Cascades \| Central Oregon \| Columbia River Gorge \| Columbia River Plateau \| Eastern Oregon \| Harney Basin \| Inland Empire \| Mount Hood Corridor \| Oregon Coast \| Portland Metro \| Rogue Valley \| Southern Oregon \| Tualatin Valley \| Western Oregon \| Willamette Valley
Metros	Bend-Redmond \| Eugene-Springfield \| Medford \| Portland \| Salem-Keizer
Cities	Albany \| Ashland \| Astoria \| Baker City \| Beaverton \| Brookings \| Coos Bay \| Corvallis \| Florence \| Grants Pass \| Gresham \| Hillsboro \| Hood River \| Independence \| Klamath Falls \| La Grande \| Lake Oswego \| Lakeview \| Madras \| McMinnville \| Milwaukie \| Monmouth \| Newberg \| Newport \| Ontario \| Oregon City \| Pendleton \| Prineville \| Roseburg \| Sandy \| The Dalles \| Tigard \| Tillamook \| Tualatin \| Umatilla \| West Linn
Counties	Baker \| Benton \| Clackamas \| Clatsop \| Columbia \| Coos \| Crook \| Curry \| Deschutes \| Douglas \| Gilliam \| Grant \| Harney \| Hood River \| Jackson \| Jefferson \| Josephine \| Klamath \| Lake \| Lane \| Lincoln \| Linn \| Malheur \| Marion \| Morrow \| Multnomah \| Polk \| Sherman \| Tillamook \| Umatilla \| Union \| Wallowa \| Wasco \| Washington \| Wheeler \| Yamhill

v • d • e Chief executive branch authorities in the United States
President	President of the United States
State governors	Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming
Territorial executives	American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Northern Mariana Islands • Puerto Rico • Virgin Islands
Defunct	Pre-state territories • Panama Canal Zone • Philippine Islands