Henry Bellmon
| Henry Louis Bellmon | |
 | |
Governor of Oklahoma
| |
| In office January 12, 1987 – January 14, 1991 | |
| Lieutenant Governor | Robert S. Kerr, III |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | George Nigh |
| Succeeded by | David Walters |
| In office January 14, 1963 – January 9, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | Leo Winters |
| Succeeded by | Dewey Bartlett |
United States Senator
for Oklahoma | |
| In office January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1981 | |
| Preceded by | Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney |
| Succeeded by | Don Nickles |
Oklahoma State Representative
| |
| In office 1946–1948 | |
| Born | September 3, 1921 Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma |
| Died | September 29, 2009 (aged 88) Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma |
| Resting place | Billings Union Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Shirley Osborn Bellmon( born 1927; married 1947–2000, her death) Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011; married 2002–2009, his death) |
| Children | Two step-children from second marriage: A. Scott and Barry Bollenbach |
| Alma mater | Oklahoma State University at Stillwater |
Military Service
| |
| Service/branch | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1942–1946 |
| Rank | First lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War II: Pacific theater of operations |
| Awards | Silver Star
Legion of Merit |
Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009)Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag After the war he returned to farming before entering politics.
Political life
Bellmon served a single term as a state representative fourteen years before his initial election as governor. After his two terms in the U.S. Senate, he returned to the governorship. In 1960, he was the Oklahoma Republican state party chairman. Two years later, he defeated the Democrat developer W. P. "Bill" Atkinson (1906-1999), who planned Midwest City, Oklahoma, with 392,316 votes (55.3 percent). Governor Bellmon served as the chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission andsat on the executive committee of the National Governor's Association.[1] He was unable to run for reelection in 1966 because of term limit, which were abolished that years; at the time, Oklahoma did not allow governors to succeed themselves. Fellow Republican Dewey Bartlett was elected as Bellmon's successor.
His 1974 contest for a second term in a heavily Democrat year ended in a disputed outcome. On election night, he led former ten-term U.S. Representative Edmond Augustus "Ed" Edmondson (1919-1990) by only 3,835 votes. Edmondson challenged the result and alleged irregularities in the voting, specifically that Tulsa County did not have levers to allow straight-ticket voting as required under state law. The state Supreme Court ruled that Edmondson could not demonstrate that the irregularities would have made him the winner. Edmondson then appealed to the Senate in January 1975, but the Senate voted, with all the Republicans and nine Democrats in agreemen, to seat Bellmon.[2]
During his service in the Senate, Bellmon, a Moderate Republican sometimes took that put him at odds with the still conservative Oklahoma Republican Party. e backed unelected incumbent Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan in the 1976 presidential nomination contest. He voted against the failed constitutional amendment to prohibit busing for racial balance in public schools. He supported the surrender of the [[Panama Canal] through the Torrijos–Carter treaties. During his second term he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. He co-founded the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which never produced a balanced budget.[1][3][4]He chose not to run for re-election in 1980[5] and was succeeded by a conservative Republican, Don Nickles.
In 1976, Bellmon was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fam at the state capital of [[Oklahoma City]].[6] In 1982, former Senator Bellmon was appointed the interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services by Democratic Governor George Nigh, his predecessor in office for Bellmon's second term as governor.[5]
After the death of his first wife of fifty-three years, Shirley Osborn Bellmon (1927-2000) he wed a longtime friend, Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach (1927-2011), the widow of Irvin Keith Bollenbach (1919-1997). Irvin and Eloise Bollenbach founded and developed in 1945 the Kingfisher airport in Kingfisher in central Okilahoma. The airport operated a ground school, offered flight instruction, trained military personnel, provided charter service, and helped farmers with aerial spraying.[7]
A few months before his death, The Oklahoman reported that Bellmon was living in Kingfisher with Eloise was farming despite severe health issues. He also taught at several Oklahoma universities.[8] He died at the age of eighty-eight after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. He is interred by his first wife, Shirley, at Billings Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Henry Bellmon at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- ↑ The Election Case of Edmond A. Edmondson v. Henry L. Bellmon of Oklahoma. United States Senate (1976). Retrieved on July 12, 2021.
- ↑ Randy Krehbiel, "State mourns GOP giant: Ex-governor, senator dies at 88," The Tulsa World, September 30, 2009.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed July 13, 2021}}
- ↑ Bryan Painter (March 1, 2009). Rural upbringing shapes former governor Henry Bellmon's life. The Oklahoman.
