Burnet R. Maybank

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Burnet Rhett Maybank

Burnet Rhett Maybank (born March 7, 1899 in Charleston , South Carolina , † September 1, 1954 in Flat Rock , North Carolina ) was an American politician and governor of South Carolina from 1939 to 1941 . He was then elected to the US Senate .

Early years and political advancement

Burnet Maybank attended the Porter Military Academy and until 1919 the College of Charleston. During the First World War he had interrupted his studies to serve first in a naval unit of the National Guard and then in the US Navy Reserve. Between 1920 and 1938 he dealt among other things with the cotton export. At the same time he was on the city council and from 1931 to 1938 even mayor of the city of Charleston. During the Great Depression , he was chairman of the South Carolina Public Service Authority , an organization that, in a similar way to the better-known Tennessee Valley Authority , was supposed to alleviate and resolve the crisis through job creation measures.

Governor of south carolina

In 1938 Maybank ran for his Democratic Party's nomination for governor. In an internal party dispute, he managed to beat several rivals, including the former governor Coleman Livingston Blease , from the field. He won the actual election on November 8, 1938, with no opponent. Maybank was a supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal policy. He was an opponent of the Ku Klux Klan , began reforming the law and improving the country's infrastructure. During his tenure, construction began on the dams and power plants, which were built under the South Carolina Public Service Authority .

In view of the international situation at that time, which was determined by Germany's attack on Poland and the Second World War that started as a result, while at the same time in Asia the tensions between the Japanese and the American government due to the Japanese expansion policy were growing steadily, one also imagined the US to the possibility of involvement in the war. With this in mind, a permanent military base was built in South Carolina with Fort Jackson (near Columbia ).

Further career

After he was elected to the US Senate in 1941, he resigned on November 4, 1941 from the office of governor to take his seat in Congress. There he was a member of several committees. In the Senate he experienced the American entry into the war as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , the further course of the war and the consequent rise of the USA to world power. Burnet Maybank remained a Senator in the US Congress until his death in September 1954. He was married twice and had a total of six children.

literature

  • Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4. Meckler Books, Westport, CT, 1978. 4 volumes.
  • The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 12. James T. White & Company, New York

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maybank, Burnet R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maybank, Burnet Rhett
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Charleston , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1954
Place of death Flat Rock , North Carolina