James Allen Rhodes (September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001) was an American Republican politician from Ohio, and as of 2019[update] one of only seven governors to serve 4 four-year terms in office. (The other six being Edwin Edwards, George Wallace, Jim Hunt, Bill Janklow, Jerry Brown, and Terry Branstad.) Rhodes is tied for the fourth longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,840 days.[1]
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
Edwin Washington Edwards is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 7th congressional district from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th Governor of Louisiana for four terms, twice as many elected terms as any other Louisiana chief executive. He served a total of 16 years in office, the sixth-longest serving gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,784 days.
James Baxter Hunt Jr. is a retired American politician who was the 69th and 71st Governor of North Carolina. He is the longest-serving governor in the state's history. Hunt is tied for the fourth-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,838 days.
As governor in 1970, Rhodes sent National Guard troops onto the Kent State University campus at the request of Kent, Ohio's mayor, after the ROTC building was burned down by unknown arsonists on May 2. On May 4, four students were killed and nine others were wounded by the Guard. One victim, Dean Kahler, suffered permanent paralysis.[2]
The Ohio Army National Guard is a part of the Ohio National Guard and the Army National Guard of the United States Army. It is also a component of the organized militia of the state of Ohio, which also includes the Ohio Naval Militia, the Ohio Military Reserve and the Ohio Air National Guard. The Ohio Army National Guard consists of a variety of combat, combat support and combat service support units. As of September 2010, its end strength exceeded 11,400 soldiers. Its headquarters is the Beightler Armory in Columbus, Ohio. Many units conduct Annual Training at Camp Grayling, Michigan.
Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia, Salem, and Warren, Ohio, with additional facilities in Cleveland, Independence, and Twinsburg, Ohio, New York City, and Florence, Italy.
Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,904 in the 2010 Census and was estimated at 29,915 in 2017. The city is counted as part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area.
Life and politics
The residence where Jim Rhodes was born
Rhodes was born in Coalton, Jackson County, Ohio, to James and Susan Howe Rhodes, who were of Welsh descent.[3] Rhodes has commented that the reason he and his family were Republicans was because of the respect his father, a mine superintendent, had for John L. Lewis, a prominent Republican union activist.[4] When Rhodes was nine his father died and the family moved to north Springfield where Rhodes graduated from Springfield High School where he played on the football team. Subsequently, the family moved again, this time to Columbus, because Rhodes earned a modest basketball scholarship to The Ohio State University. Although Rhodes dropped out after his first quarter he is often described as a "student" or "alumnus" of Ohio State.[3] After dropping out of college, Rhodes opened a business called Jim's Place across from the university on North High Street. Jim's Place has been described as a place where one could buy anything, from doughnuts and hamburgers, to stag films, or place bets on numbers games.[5]
Coalton is a village in Jackson County, Ohio, United States. The population was 479 at the 2010 census.
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,225. Its county seat is Jackson. The county is named for Andrew Jackson, a hero of the War of 1812 who was subsequently elected President of the United States. It is known as "The Little Wales of Ohio."
The Welsh are a Celtic nation and ethnic group native to, or otherwise associated with, Wales, Welsh culture, Welsh history and the Welsh language. Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom, and the majority of people living in Wales are British citizens.
In 1934, Rhodes began to use his position as a local businessman to climb up the Columbus political ladder, and became a ward committeeman, a member of the Columbus school board, the city auditor, and eventually the mayor of Columbus (1944–1952). It was during this time that he married Helen Rawlins. Rhodes's time as mayor is primarily marked by two achievements, with the first being his convincing of 67% of Columbus voters to approve the city's first income tax, and the second being his successful use of water gun diplomacy to annex much of the surrounding suburbs to Columbus. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of the municipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus. As a result of this, Columbus, Ohio, currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city.[6]
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) that varies with respective income or profits. Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times taxable income. Taxation rates may vary by type or characteristics of the taxpayer.
A water supply system or water supply network is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components which provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes:
A drainage basin.
A raw water collection point where the water accumulates, such as a lake, a river, or groundwater from an underground aquifer. Raw water may be transferred using uncovered ground-level aqueducts, covered tunnels or underground water pipes to water purification facilities.
Water purification facilities. Treated water is transferred using water pipes.
Water storage facilities such as reservoirs, water tanks, or water towers. Smaller water systems may store the water in cisterns or pressure vessels. Tall buildings may also need to store water locally in pressure vessels in order for the water to reach the upper floors.
Additional water pressurizing components such as pumping stations may need to be situated at the outlet of underground or above ground reservoirs or cisterns.
A pipe network for distribution of water to the consumers and other usage points.
Connections to the sewers are generally found downstream of the water consumers, but the sewer system is considered to be a separate system, rather than part of the water supply system.
With an eye on the governorship, Rhodes was elected State Auditor in 1952, and took office in early 1953. In 1954, Rhodes ran against the popular incumbent, Democratic governor Frank Lausche, and lost by a 54% to 46% margin. In 1962, Rhodes ran again for governor – this time against Democratic incumbent Mike DiSalle. Rhodes's campaign centered on "jobs and progress," and in speeches Rhodes routinely claimed that an increase in jobs would lead to a decrease in everything from crime and divorce, to mental illness.[7] Rhodes also made DiSalle's tax increases, such as the gas tax, a prominent part of his campaign. Rhodes also weathered a minor scandal when Democratic State Chairman alleged that Rhodes diverted and borrowed a total of $54,000 from his campaign funds.[8] During a debate, both Rhodes and DiSalle agreed that this was, "the most vicious campaign [of] the Ohio governorship."[3] On November 6, 1962, Ohioans voted Rhodes into the governorship with 59% of the vote.[3]
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
Michael Vincent DiSalle was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio and as the 60th Governor of Ohio.
A fuel tax is an excise tax imposed on the sale of fuel. In most countries the fuel tax is imposed on fuels which are intended for transportation. Fuels used to power agricultural vehicles, and/or home heating oil which is similar to diesel are taxed at a different, usually lower rate. The fuel tax receipts are often dedicated or hypothecated to transportation projects so that the fuel tax is considered by many a user fee. In other countries, the fuel tax is a source of general revenue. Sometimes, the fuel tax is used as an ecotax, to promote ecological sustainability. Fuel taxes are often considered regressive taxes.
Rhodes served two terms as governor, and he also was a "favorite son" Presidential candidate who controlled the Ohio delegation to the Republican National Conventions in 1964 and 1968, before retiring in 1971. He ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970 and narrowly lost, to U.S. RepresentativeRobert Taft, Jr., in the primary election, which was two days after the events at Kent State.
A favorite son is a political term.
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.
Rhodes oversaw the last two (by electrocution) pre-Furman executions in Ohio,[9] which were both in early 1963, before Ohio resumed executions in 1999. Governor Rhodes pardoned boxing promoter , Don King, for a nonnegligent manslaughter conviction of stomping one of his employees to death and for the shooting a man in the back.[see Wikipedia (Don King boxing promoter)]
At a news conference in Kent, Ohio, on Sunday May 3, 1970, the day before the Kent State shootings, he said of campus protesters:
They're worse than the Brownshirts, and the Communist element, and also the Night Riders, and the vigilantes. They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America.[10]
Since the Ohio Constitution limits the governor to two four-year terms, when Rhodes initially filed to run again in 1974, his petitions were refused by the Secretary of State. Rhodes sued, and the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the limitation was on consecutive terms, thus freeing him to return to office by narrowly defeating incumbent John Gilligan in an upset in the 1974 election. He served two more terms before retiring again in 1983. During the energy crisis of the winter of 1976–77, Rhodes led a 15-minute service, in which he "beseech[ed] God to relieve the storm."[11] The next year, January 1978, amid a blizzard which dropped 31inches of snow onto Ohio and killed 60 people in the Northeast, Rhodes called the storm "the greatest disaster in Ohio history."[11]
Rhodes sought to run for the governorship again in 1986, seeking a record-breaking fifth term, but soundly lost to the incumbent Dick Celeste, whom Rhodes had narrowly defeated in his last successful gubernatorial bid in 1978.
↑ Dean Kahler: Visitors' Center helps him move past May 4, 1970 'Dean Kahler, among the most severely wounded of the 13 Kent State students shot by the National Guard on May 4, 1970, tours the new May 4th Visitors' Center being dedicated this weekend' WKSU, May 3, 2013. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
↑ "Ohio Executions". Archived from the original on February 23, 2008. Retrieved April 14, 2008. The History Of Executions in America Before Lethal Injection. Retrieved from Internet Archive 25 January 2014.
↑ Bills, Shirley; Bills, Scott L. (1988), "Scott L. Bills", in Scott L. Bills (ed.), Kent State/May 4: Echoes Through a Decade, Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, p.13, ISBN978-0-87338-360-8
John William Bricker was a United States Senator and the 54th Governor of Ohio. He was also the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1944.
Robert Alphonso Taft III is an American politician and attorney.
Richard Frank "Dick" Celeste is an American former diplomat, university administrator and politician from Ohio, he is a member of the Democratic Party and served as the 64th Governor of Ohio from 1983 to 1991.
John Joyce Gilligan was an American Democratic politician from the state of Ohio who served as a U.S. Representative and as the 62nd Governor of Ohio from 1971 to 1975. He was the father of Kathleen Sebelius, who later served as Governor of Kansas and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Gilligan and Sebelius are the only father and daughter ever to have both been elected state governors.
C. William O'Neill was an American Republican politician from Ohio.
John William Brown was an American Republican politician from Ohio. He briefly served as the 58th Governor of Ohio from January 3, 1957 to January 14, 1957 and served as the 51st and 54th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio.
Theodore Strickland is an American politician who was the 68th Governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Ohio's 6th congressional district.
The Ohio Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Ohio. Former Cincinnati councilman David A. Pepper is the Ohio Democratic Party chairman. Pepper started his term as chairman in January 2015.
The Ohio Republican Party is the Ohio state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio on February 13, 1854.
The 1982 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives held on November 2, 1982, in the middle of President Ronald Reagan's first term, whose popularity was sinking due to economic conditions under the 1982 recession. The President's Republican Party lost seats in the House, which could be viewed as a response to the President's approval at the time. Unlike most midterm election cycles, the number of seats lost—26 seats to the Democratic Party—was a comparatively large swap. It included most of the seats that had been gained the previous election, cementing the Democratic majority. Coincidentally, the number of seats the Democratic picked up (26), was the exact amount the Republicans needed to win the House majority.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 5, 2002 in 36 states and two territories. The Republicans won eight seats previously held by the Democrats, as well as the seat previously held by Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who was elected on the Reform Party ticket but had since renounced his party affiliation. The Democrats won 10 seats previously held by the Republicans, as well as the seat previously held by Maine governor Angus King, an independent. Overall, the Republicans suffered a net loss of one seat while the Democrats made a net gain of three. The Republicans managed to maintain their majority of state governorships, but it was reduced to a margin of only two seats. The elections were notable for the sheer number of state governorships that changed parties – 20 in total, constituting more than half of the seats up for election. Additionally, a number of Democratic and Republican gains occurred in states that typically favor the other party; for instance, Republican candidates won the usually Democratic states of Maryland, Hawaii, Minnesota and Vermont, while Democratic governors were elected in Republican-leaning states like Wyoming, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kansas.
The Lowry Bill, also known as the Lowry Act and the Lowry Normal School Bill, was a bill introduced in 1910 in the Ohio state legislature which called for the establishment of two state normal schools in northern Ohio, one in the northeast and one in the northwest. It was named after its main sponsor, John Hamilton Lowry, a representative from northwest Ohio's Henry County. It was approved and signed into law by Ohio Governor Judson Harmon on May 19, 1910. Following its approval, the Commission on Normal School Sites was established and search committees were formed to determine the sites of the two schools with nearly forty communities applying. On November 25, 1910, the Commission announced that the villages of Kent in the northeast and Bowling Green in the northwest had been selected as the sites of the new schools. These schools would eventually evolve into what are today Kent State University and Bowling Green State University.
John Patrick Carney is a former Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 22nd District from 2009 to 2014. In September 2013, Carney announced his intention to run for Auditor of the State of Ohio in the 2014 election, he lost the general election on November 4 to incumbent Dave Yost.
James B. Renacci is an American accountant, businessman, and politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 16th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, he is a former city council president and two-term Mayor of Wadsworth, Ohio. Renacci was the unsuccessful Republican nominee in the 2018 United States Senate election in Ohio, losing to incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.
M. Morrison Jackson was a member of the Ohio Senate.
The Ohio general elections, 2014 were held on November 4, 2014 throughout Ohio, with polls opened between 6:30AM and 7:30PM. The close of registration for electors in the primary election was April 7, 2014, and the primary election day took place on May 6, 2014.
The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the 16 U.S. Representatives from the U.S. state of Ohio, one from each of the state's 16 congressional districts. The elections coincided with other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections.
The 1974 Ohio gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974. Republican nominee Jim Rhodes defeated Democratic incumbent John J. Gilligan with 48.62% of the vote.
The 1962 Ohio gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. Republican nominee Jim Rhodes defeated Democratic incumbent Michael DiSalle with 58.92% of the vote.
References
Zimmerman, Richard Z. (2007), Lamis, Alexander P.; Usher, Brian (eds.), Ohio Politics: Revised and Updated, Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, pp.85–108, ISBN978-0-87338-613-5
Diemer, Tom; Leonard, Lee; Zimmerman, Richard (2014). James A. Rhodes, Ohio Colossus. Kent State University Press. ISBN978-1606352151.
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