John W. Reynolds

John W. Reynolds

John W. Reynolds (born April 4, 1921 in Green Bay , Wisconsin , † January 6, 2002 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin) was an American lawyer and politician and from 1963 to 1965 the 36th  governor of the state of Wisconsin.

Early years and political advancement

After elementary school, Reynolds attended the University of Wisconsin until 1942 . During the Second World War he was a first lieutenant in an infantry unit and later in an intelligence unit of the US Army. After the war, he continued his education with a law degree at the University of Wisconsin. After graduating and admitted to the bar, he began practicing in Green Bay in 1949.

In 1950 Reynolds ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives . Between 1952 and 1956 he was district leader of the Democratic Party in Brown County . From 1951 to 1952, he was also the area manager of the Office of Price Stabilization , which was supposed to keep inflation under control during the Korean War . Between 1955 and 1958 he worked in the administration of the Eastern Legal District of Wisconsin. Finally he was from 1959 to 1963 Attorney General of Wisconsin. His father, John W. Reynolds Sr., held this position from 1927 to 1933.

Governor of wisconsin

In 1962 he was elected as the Democratic Party candidate for the new governor of his state. John Reynolds took office on January 7, 1963. During his two-year term in office, he campaigned for constitutional reform that would have extended the governor's term of office from two to four years. At the same time, as in the presidential election, the governor and lieutenant governor should be elected with one vote. Both proposals were only accepted by the state parliament in the 1970s and then implemented. In 1964 he supported President Lyndon B. Johnson in his election campaign. He ran for Johnson in the Wisconsin primary, only to transfer his electoral votes to the president at the Democratic National Convention . In the same year, Reynolds failed in an attempt to be re-elected governor. With a share of the vote of 49.4 percent, he was just defeated by Republican Warren P. Knowles .

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship, he was appointed a judge in the federal district court for the eastern district of Wisconsin. He held this office until 1971. In that year he was promoted to Chief Judge in this area. He held this post until 1986, after which he retired. John Reynolds died of heart failure in 2002. He was married twice and had a total of five children.

Web links

• John W. Reynolds in the database of the National Governors Association (English)
• John W. Reynolds in the database of Find a Grave (English)