Mike O'Callaghan

Donal Neil "Mike" O'Callaghan (* 10. September 1929 in La Crosse , La Crosse County , Wisconsin , † 5. March 2004 in Las Vegas , Clark County , Nevada ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party and from 1971 until 1979 governor of the state of Nevada.

O'Callaghan joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of 16 under the pretense of older , serving until 1948. In 1950 he joined the Air Force and served in the Aleutian Islands . In 1952 he was transferred to the Army to take part in combat operations. During a battle in the Korean War , he lost part of his left leg from a mortar hit. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star . After returning to the United States, he became a high school teacher and boxing coach. At Basic High School in Henderson , Nevada, O'Callaghan was the history teacher of the current Senator from Nevada, Harry Reid , whom he later also supported politically.

O'Callaghan's political career began in 1963 when then Nevada Governor Grant Sawyer made him head of the newly formed Department of Human Resources . In 1964, US President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him regional director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness . In 1966 O'allaghan took part as a candidate in the Democratic Party's primary election for the post of lieutenant governor , but was defeated. In 1970 he was nominated by his party as a candidate for the gubernatorial election and achieved a surprising election victory against his Republican opponent, Lieutenant Governor Edward Fike . In 1974, O'Callaghan was re-elected by a margin over his challenger, considered the greatest in the history of Nevada's gubernatorial election.

Despite great popularity, O'Callaghan did not run for a third term. Rather, he became editor-in-chief of the Las Vegas Sun , a position he held until his death. He was also the editor of Henderson Home News and Boulder City News . In the 1990s, O'Callaghan was an election observer in Nicaragua and northern Iraq . He was considered a strong supporter of Israel .

On March 5, 2004, Mike O'Callaghan died of a heart attack after collapsing during a morning mass in Las Vegas.

A bridge over the Colorado between Nevada and Arizona , completed as part of a highway bypass of the Hoover Dam in October 2010, is called the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge .

Web links

• Mike O'Callaghan in the National Governors Association (English)
• Mike O'Callaghan in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• The governors of Nevada