Leon C. Phillips

Leon C. Phillips (1938)

Leon Chase Phillips (born December 9, 1890 in Worth County , Missouri , † March 27, 1958 in Okemah , Oklahoma ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) and from 1939 to 1943 the eleventh governor of the state of Oklahoma.

Early years and political advancement

At the age of two, Leon Phillips came with his parents to Custer County in the Oklahoma Territory . There he attended public schools and then Epworth University , now the University of Oklahoma . There he also graduated in law in 1916. Then he started working as a lawyer in Okemah. During the First World War he served in an artillery training camp.

Between 1922 and 1926, Phillips served on the school board in his hometown of Okemah. Between 1926 and 1932 he was a member of the Election Committee in Okfuskee County . He was also an associate member of his state's Supreme Court from 1927 to 1928 and a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1932 to 1938 . In 1935 he was speaker of the house and from 1937 parliamentary group leader of his party. In 1938 he was elected as the new governor, with 70:29 percent of the vote he was very clear against the Republican Ross Rizley .

Governor of Oklahoma

Phillips took up his new office on January 9, 1939. During his tenure, government bonds were issued to reduce the budget deficit. In addition, an amendment to the state constitution was passed, which prescribed a balanced budget. Phillips opposed the construction of dams. He even used the National Guard to prevent the Grand River Dam from being completed. However, he was overruled on the matter by a federal court. The background was his rejection of the New Deal policy of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt . The second part of his term of office was marked by the events of the Second World War. The United States had been at war since December 7, 1941. In Oklahoma too, production had to be converted to armaments, and young men were drafted into the military. In this way, the last consequences of the economic crisis were overcome in this country. Between 1940 and 1942, Governor Phillips was also chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission . In 1942 Phillips switched sides because of his opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal policies and supported the Republican Party in that year's election.

After the end of his tenure, Phillips withdrew from politics. He practiced law in Okemah until his death in 1958. Leon Phillips was married twice and had two children in total.

Web links

• Leon C. Phillips in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Oklahoma (English)

• Leon C. Phillips in the database of Find a Grave (English)