James Blanchard

James Blanchard (1981)

James Johnston "Jim" Blanchard (born August 8, 1942 in Detroit , Michigan ) is an American politician . He was the 45th governor of the state of Michigan from 1983 to 1991  .

Early years and political advancement

James Blanchard attended the Ferndale public schools . He then studied at Michigan State University until 1965 . After studying law at the University of Minnesota , he was admitted to the bar in 1968. Then he started to work in his new profession in Lansing .

He also served as Legal Adviser to the Secretary of State of Michigan between 1968 and 1969 and was his state's Assistant Attorney General from 1970 to 1973 . In 1974 he worked intermittently for the law firm Beer and Boltz in Bloomfield Hills . Between 1975 and 1983 he represented his state in the US House of Representatives in Washington . In 1982 he was elected as the Democratic Party candidate for Michigan’s new governor. He got 51.4 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Richard Headlee (45.1 percent).

Michigan governor

Blanchard took up his new office on January 1, 1983. After a re-election in 1986, which he won with 68.1 percent of the vote against William Lucas, he was able to exercise it until January 1, 1991. At the beginning of his tenure, there was a dispute over the appointment of Dorothy Riley as a judge on the state Supreme Court. This appointment had been made by Blanchard's predecessor William Milliken in his last weeks in office. Blanchard felt he should have made the appointment. He was followed by a majority of the other Supreme Court justices and the appointment was revoked. Blanchard then replaced Riley with another judge. But in 1984 Riley was elected to this court after all. In 1990 Blanchard was defeated by Republican John Engler in the gubernatorial elections . As a result, he had to resign on January 1, 1991.

Another résumé

In 1993, James Blanchard was named US Ambassador to Canada by President Bill Clinton to succeed Peter Teeley . He held this office until 1996. In 2002 he unsuccessfully applied for a return to the office of governor. This time he failed in the primaries of his own party to Jennifer Granholm . James Blanchard has been married twice and has one child.

Honors

The Michigan State University awarded him in 1983 the honorary doctorate .

Web links

• James Blanchard in the National Governors Association (English)
• James Blanchard in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of Honorary Doctorates from Michigan State University (English).