Bill Janklow

William John "Bill" Janklow (born September 13, 1939 in Chicago , Illinois , † January 12, 2012 in Sioux Falls , South Dakota ) was an American politician . He was governor of the state of South Dakota from 1979 to 1987 and from 1995 to 2003 .

Life

Early years

Between 1956 and 1959, Bill Janklow served in the US Marines . He then studied at the University of South Dakota , where he took his law exam in 1966. Between 1966 and 1973 he was an attorney for the Rosebud Reservation on behalf of the state . He then went into business for himself as a lawyer.

During this time, Janklow fell into twilight after a rape case involving 15-year-old Jancita Eagle Deer, a young Oglala Sioux and babysitter of his family. Despite the evidence, testimony, and work of Dennis Banks , a founder of the American Indian Movement , Janklow was prosecuted but never convicted. In 1975, four months after Janklow took office as governor of South Dakota, Eagle Deer died in an alleged traffic accident; however, during the examination, the coroner's office found that she had previously been subjected to massive physical violence. The FBI showed no interest in pursuing the matter and the case was never closed.

Political advancement and first term as governor

Janklow made a quick political career in South Dakota. Between 1975 and 1979 he was Minister of Justice ( Attorney General ). In 1978 he was elected as the Republican Party candidate for new governor. After a successful re-election in 1982, he served for eight years between January 1, 1979 and January 6, 1987. During this time he had to deal with the bankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad railroad companies . Janklow recognized the economic importance of this society's routes for the state. The state therefore bought the main line of the railway and hired the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) to operate the line. The successor company of the BN the BNSF Railway acquired the railway lines in 2005.

In 1979, Janklow reintroduced the death penalty, which had now been suspended; he was also known for his harsh crackdown on the American Indian Movement, particularly against Dennis Banks, whom he accused of defamation because of the Eagle Deer case . His preferred and much-cited method of treating Banks and other 'militant' Indians is to give them "a bullet" straight "in the head".

Because of the constitution, Janklow was not allowed to run for a third consecutive term in 1986. Therefore, he left office in January 1987.

Between gubernatorial times

In 1986 Janklow applied for a seat in the US Senate . But he was already defeated in the primaries . After that, Janklow went back to his private law firm. In 1994 he returned to the political stage. That year he was again nominated by his party for the office of governor and then elected by the voters to this office.

Second term as governor

After his successful election, Janklow began his new term on January 7, 1995. After being re-elected in 1998, he was able to serve until January 2003 for a further eight years. He is the only South Dakota governor to serve four full terms and serving as governor for 16 years. In his second term as governor, he saw to it that modern computer technology was introduced into schools in the country. The vaccinations for children have been expanded and the property tax for agricultural land and buildings has been reduced. During Janklow's tenure, the recreational areas along the Missouri River were also expanded. To protect his own agriculture, he imposed a ban on imports of cattle and grain from Canada .

In August 2003 he caused a traffic accident in which a motorcyclist was killed. The case was subsequently investigated legally.

Another résumé

Despite ongoing investigations into his accident, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. He stayed there for about a year. When he was sentenced to 100 days in prison for negligent homicide in connection with the aforementioned traffic accident in January 2004, he was forced to resign from Congress. After serving his sentence, he was regained his license to practice law in 2006. A private claim by the victim's relatives for compensation payments was dismissed by a court. Until his death, Janklow worked as a lawyer again. He was married to Mary Dean Thom and had three children.

Web links

• Janklow at the National Governors Association (English)
• Bill Janklow in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Bill Janklow in nndb (English)
• Bill Janklow in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Former SD Governor, US Rep. Bill Janklow Dies - npr.org ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ^ "BLOOD OF THE LAND: The Government and Corporate War Against the American Indian Movement. Jancita Eagle Deer" . Archived from the original on August 26, 2010. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 19, 2010. 
3. ↑ Trains News Wire January 12, 2012: Bill Janklow, savior of Milwaukee Road's South Dakota rail lines, dies
4. ↑ "A sphere" . The mirror. 1984. Retrieved July 19, 2010.