Sarah Palin, Other Controversial Women Governors

Remember Ma Ferguson, Lurleen Wallace, Ann Richards, Kathleen Blanco

Aug 4, 2009

The US has had 31 female governors, with six current and 28 since 1975. Three succeeded their husbands. Nineteen were Democrats. Arizona has had four women governors.

The times and the media were different, but Miriam Amanda Wallace "Ma" Ferguson of Texas and Lurleen Wallace of Alabama may have stirred as much attention in their day as Sarah Palin did when Republicans nominated her for vice president in 2008 and when she surprisingly resigned the Alaska governorship in 2009.

Ferguson and Wallace, like Palin, were strong women, even though they derived political strength from their husbands.

Ferguson was the second woman to become an American state governor. Nellie Tayloe Ross, a Wyoming Democrat, was able to replace her late husband two weeks ahead of Ferguson. They both served a 1925-27 term.

James Edward Ferguson Impeached

According to the Handbook of Texas, the legislature accused Governor James Ferguson of using state funds for private purposes. He, was impeached and barred from seeking office. But his wife could run. The Fergusons campaigned together, promising voters "two governors for the price of one." He even vowed to watch what she signed. Ma Ferguson had side-by-side desks installed so that they could work together.

She fought the Ku Klux Klan and prohibitionists. She and her husband were accused of selling pardons (100 per month) and generating kickbacks through highway contracts. She was threatened with impeachment and lost a bid for relection in 1926.

She lost again in 1930, won another term in 1932, but lost another governor’s race in 1940, at age 65. Two wins in five campaigns.

Alabama Loved George Wallace

Wallace, like Ferguson, was elected with statewide understanding that she would carry on the work of a husband who was highly controversial. George Wallace was loved in Alabama, but nationally he was considered a segregationist icon.

But when a federal court ordered Alabama to begin desegregating its public schools in 1967, she followed her husband’s segregation policies by attempting "to seize all state schools and place them under police power." She also recommended that the state withhold funds from Tuskegee Institute, an Alabama black college.

She died of cancer in May 1968, about 16 months after taking office. George Wallace later returned to serve four terms.

Richards and Blanco Battled Bush

Perhaps the two other most controversial female governors were Ann Richards of Texas (1991-95) and Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana (2004-08). They were both Democrats with something else in common: battles with George W. Bush.

Richards, a divorcee and rehabilitated drinker, won attention when she quipped to the National Democratic Convention that then Vice President George H. W. Bush "was born with a silver foot in his mouth." With Karl Rove reportedly conducting a smear campaign against her, the younger Bush upset Richards in 1994.

Blanco had the misfortune of being governor in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana and federal levees failed, flooding much of the New Orleans area. In an effort to cover the slow federal response to the disaster, Bush tried to take over the Louisiana National Guard operations in the disaster areas. He and Blanco clashed on that and other issues, she struggled with implementation of a federal assistance program and much of the state turned against her, prompting her not to seek a second term.

She, Richards, Ferguson, Wallace and Palin may have been the most controversial of the nation's 31 female governors. They were all fighters.

The copyright of the article Sarah Palin, Other Controversial Women Governors in American History is owned by Carroll Trosclair. Permission to republish Sarah Palin, Other Controversial Women Governors in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.