 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Mike O'Callaghan" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Mike O'Callaghan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) O'Callaghanc. 1970s | |
| 23rd Governor of Nevada | |
| In office January 4, 1971 – January 1, 1979 | |
| Lieutenant | Harry Reid (1971–1975) Robert E. Rose (1975–1979) |
| Preceded by | Paul Laxalt |
| Succeeded by | Robert List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Donal Neil O'Callaghan (1929-09-10)September 10, 1929 La Crosse, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Died | March 5, 2004(2004-03-05) (aged 74) Paradise, Nevada, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery Boulder City, Nevada, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5 |
| Alma mater | University of Idaho |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Marine Corps United States Air Force United States Army |
| Years of service | 1946–1948 1950–1952 |
| Battles/wars | Korean War |
| Awards |  Bronze Star Silver Star Purple Heart |
Donal Neil "Mike"O'Callaghan (September 10, 1929 – March 5, 2004) was an American politician and educator who served as the23rd Governor of Nevada from 1971 to 1979. He was a member of theDemocratic Party.[1]
Born inLa Crosse, Wisconsin, O'Callaghan later moved toSparta, where his family subsistence farmed.[2] He lied about his age to join theU.S. Marine Corps, at the age of 16 and served from 1946 to 1948.
He attendedBoise Junior College and joined theU.S. Air Force in 1950 and served as an intelligence operator in theAleutian Islands. O'Callaghan was transferred to theU.S. Army in 1952 to see combat and lost part of his left leg after being hit by a mortar round during a battle in theKorean War. He was awarded theSilver Star andBronze Star and returned to the United States.
O'Callaghan resumed his college studies at theUniversity of Idaho inMoscow, where he was a member ofTau Kappa Epsilon fraternity,[3] and completed hisbachelor's and master's degree in education in 1956,[4] then became a high school teacher and boxing coach inNevada.[5] He was U.S. SenatorHarry Reid's history teacher atBasic High School inHenderson and later promoted Reid's political career. From 1961 to 1963, he was the chief probation officer and director of court services forClark County.[5]
O'Callaghan's political career began in 1963, when GovernorGrant Sawyer appointed him to head the state's new department of health and welfare.[5] In 1964, PresidentLyndon B. Johnson appointed O'Callaghan to be the regional director of theOffice of Emergency Preparedness.
In 1966, O'Callaghan ran in the Democratic primary forlieutenant governor, but lost. In 1970, he received the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and won a surprising victory in the general election over his Republican opponent,Edward Fike. He proved to be an extremely popular governor and was re-elected in 1974 by a four-to-one margin, the greatest landslide in a gubernatorial election in state history.
The last Nevada governor before term limits, who was eligible for an elected third term, O'Callaghan chose not to run again in 1978.[6][dead link] After he left office O'Callaghan became the executive editor of theLas Vegas Sun, a job he held until his death in 2004. He was also the publisher of theHenderson Home News andBoulder City News. In the 1990s, O'Callaghan monitored elections inNicaragua and northernIraq, and was a strong supporter of the nation ofIsrael.
Mike O'Callaghan died on March 5, 2004, of a heart attack at the age of 74, after collapsing during the morning mass hours at the Saint Viator Catholic Church inParadise, Nevada. He was pronounced dead at Desert Springs Hospital.[6][7] His widow Carolyn, a native ofTwin Falls, Idaho, died seven months later on October 7, 2004, ofcomplications fromcardiac surgery, at the age of 68. They were married on August 21, 1954, inTwin Falls, Idaho and had five children; the former governor died one month before their 50th anniversary.[8] Both are interred at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery inBoulder City, Nevada.
O'Callaghan's legacy as Nevada politician and philanthropist survives through three structures that bear his name. Mike O'Callaghan Middle School opened on the east side of Las Vegas in 1991. The Mike O'Callaghan Federal Hospital is located onNellis Air Force Base northeast of Las Vegas. A bridge that is a part of the highway bypass around theHoover Dam, spanning theColorado River between Nevada andArizona, bears O'Callaghan's name, as well as that of formerNFL Arizona Cardinals player and U.S. Army veteranPat Tillman. Tillman died in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan. TheMike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge was completed on October 14, 2010.[9] Also in 2010, The O'Callaghan Resource Integrated Oncology Network (ORION) Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit charity that assists cancer patients in Nevada was established in honor of Mike and Carolyn O'Callaghan, both cancer survivors.
Citations
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Nevada 1970,1974 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Nevada January 4, 1971 – January 1, 1979 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
