Jim Rhodes | |
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.jpg) Rhodes in 1981 | |
| 61st and 63rd Governor of Ohio | |
| In office January 13, 1975 – January 10, 1983 | |
| Lieutenant | Dick Celeste(1975–1979) George Voinovich(1979) Vacant(1979–1983) |
| Preceded by | John J. Gilligan |
| Succeeded by | Dick Celeste |
| In office January 14, 1963 – January 11, 1971 | |
| Lieutenant | John W. Brown |
| Preceded by | Michael DiSalle |
| Succeeded by | John J. Gilligan |
| 21st Ohio State Auditor | |
| In office 1953–1963 | |
| Governor | Frank J. Lausche John William Brown C. William O'Neill Michael DiSalle |
| Preceded by | Joseph T. Ferguson |
| Succeeded by | Roger W. Tracy Jr. |
| 44thMayor of Columbus | |
| In office 1944–1952 | |
| Preceded by | Floyd F. Green |
| Succeeded by | Robert T. Oestreicher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Allen Rhodes (1909-09-13)September 13, 1909 Coalton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 2001(2001-03-04) (aged 91) Columbus, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Green Lawn Cemetery Columbus, Ohio |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Springfield High School |
| Alma mater | Ohio State University |
James Allen Rhodes (September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001) was an American attorney andRepublican politician who served as the 61st and 63rdGovernor of Ohio from 1963 to 1971 and from 1975 to 1983. Rhodes was one of only seven U.S. governors to serve four four-year terms in office.[a] Rhodes is tied for thesixth-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,840 days.[1] He also served as Mayor ofColumbus from 1944 to 1952 and Ohio State Auditor from 1953 to 1963.
On May 3, 1970, Rhodes sentNational Guard troops onto theKent State University campus at the request ofKent, Ohio mayorLeRoy Satrom after theROTC building was burned down by unknown arsonists the previous night. OnMay 4, Guardsmen killed four students and wounded nine others.
Rhodes was born inCoalton, Ohio, to James and Susan Howe Rhodes, who were ofWelsh descent.[2] Rhodes has commented that the reason he and his family were Republicans was because of the respect his father, a mine superintendent, had forJohn L. Lewis, a prominent Republican union activist.[3] When Rhodes was nine, his father died, and the family moved to northSpringfield where Rhodes graduated from Springfield High School where he played on the football team. Subsequently, the family moved again, this time toColumbus, because Rhodes earned a modest basketball scholarship toOhio State University. Although Rhodes dropped out after his first quarter he is often described as a "student" or "alumnus" of Ohio State.[2]
After dropping out of college, Rhodes opened a business called Jim's Place across from the university onNorth High Street. Jim's Place has been described as a place where one could buy anything, from doughnuts and hamburgers tostag film, or place bets onnumbers games.[4]
In 1934, Rhodes began to use his position as a local businessman to climb up the Columbus political ladder, starting on a ward committee.[5] In 1937, Rhodes won his first elected office as a member of theColumbus Board of Education. He was then twice elected as Columbus city auditor in 1939 and 1941. Then in 1943, Rhodes was elected asMayor of Columbus, becoming the youngest major city mayor in the U.S. at age 34.[6]
Rhodes's time as mayor is primarily marked by two achievements, with the first being his convincing of 67% of Columbus voters to approve the city's firstincome tax, and the second being the annexation of much of the surrounding suburbs to Columbus. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of themunicipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus. As a result of this, Columbus, Ohio, currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city.[5]
With an eye on the governorship, Rhodes was elected State Auditor in 1952, and took office in early 1953. In 1954, Rhodes ran against the popular incumbent,Democratic governorFrank Lausche, and lost by a 54% to 46% margin. In 1962, Rhodes ran again for governor – this time against Democratic incumbentMike DiSalle. Rhodes's campaign centered on "jobs and progress," and in speeches Rhodes routinely claimed that an increase in jobs would lead to a decrease in everything from crime and divorce, to mental illness.[7] Rhodes also made DiSalle's tax increases, such as thegas tax, a prominent part of his campaign. Rhodes also weathered a minor scandal when Democratic State Chairman alleged that Rhodes diverted and borrowed a total of $54,000 from his campaign funds.[8] During a debate, both Rhodes and DiSalle agreed that this was, "the most vicious campaign [of] the Ohio governorship."[2] On November 6, 1962, Ohioans voted Rhodes into the governorship with 59% of the vote.[2]
Rhodes served two terms as governor, and he also was a "favorite son" presidential candidate who controlled the Ohio delegation to the Republican National Conventions in 1964 and 1968, before retiring in 1971. He ran for theU.S. Senate in 1970 and narrowly lost, toU.S. RepresentativeRobert Taft Jr., in the primary election, which was two days after the events at Kent State.
Rhodes oversaw the last two (byelectrocution)pre-Furman executions inOhio,[9] which were both in early 1963, before Ohio resumed executions in 1999. In 1983 Rhodes pardoned boxing promoterDon King for a 1967 non‐negligent manslaughter conviction of stomping one of his employees to death.
Rhodes championed a county airport program which, after being passed by voters in 1965, saw the construction of 50 airports throughout the state.[10]
At a news conference inKent, Ohio, on Sunday May 3, 1970, the day before the Kent State shootings, he said of campus protesters:
They're worse than theBrownshirts, and the Communist element, and also theNight Riders, and thevigilantes. They're the worst type of people that we harbor in America.[11]
Since theOhio Constitution limits the governor to two four-year terms, when Rhodes initially filed to run again in 1974, his petitions were refused by theSecretary of State. Rhodes sued, and theOhio Supreme Court ruled that the limitation was on consecutive terms, thus freeing him to return to office by narrowly defeating incumbentJohn Gilligan in an upset in the 1974 election. He served two more terms before retiring again in 1983. During the energy crisis of the winter of 1976–77, Rhodes led a 15-minute service, in which he "beseech[ed] God to relieve the storm."[12] The next year, January 1978, amid ablizzard which dropped 31 inches of snow onto Ohio and killed 60 people in the Northeast, Rhodes called the storm "the greatest disaster in Ohio history."[12]
On August 16, 1977 Rhodes was hit in the face and shoulderwith a banana cream pie thrown bySteve Conliff, as about 25 young people disrupted the opening of the Ohio State Fair. Conliff then ran unsuccessfully against Rhodes for the Republican nomination.
Afterrelations between the United States and People's Republic of China normalized in 1979, Rhodes sought to encourage economic ties, viewing China as a potential market for Ohio machinery exports for companies likeTimken Company andParker Hannifin.[13]: 112 In July 1979, Rhodes led a State of OhioTrade Mission to China.[13]: 112 Among other leaders, Rhodes met with Vice PremierYu Qiuli.[13]: 112–113 The trip resulted in developing economic ties, a sister state-province relationship withHubei province, long-running Chinese exhibitions at theOhio State Fair, and major academic exchanges between Ohio State University andWuhan University.[13]: 113 Rhodes also developed the view that Chinese investment in Ohio would be beneficial for the state.[13]: 112
Rhodes ran for the governorship again in 1986, seeking a record-breaking fifth term, but soundly lost to the incumbentDick Celeste, whom Rhodes had narrowly defeated in his last successful gubernatorial bid in 1978.
Rhodes co-authored stories of historical fiction with Dean Jauchius, includingThe Trial of Mary Todd Lincoln,The Court-Martial of Oliver Hazard Perry andJohnny Shiloh, a novel of the Civil War.[14] The last was adapted to a 1963 television movie byWalt Disney, also calledJohnny Shiloh, for which Rhodes received writer's credit.[citation needed]
From 1941 to her death in 1987, Rhodes was married to Helen Rawlins. They had three children.[6]
In 1995, Rhodes suffered a stroke, resulting in him needing to use a wheelchair. He was hospitalized due to pneumonia in December 2000 and January 2001. On March 4, 2001, Rhodes died atOhio State University Medical Center in Columbus of heart issues.[6] He is interred atGreen Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, Ohio.
Numerous buildings and sites around the state have been named in Rhodes's honor, including:
Jim Rhodes won the gubernatorial election, defeating sittingGovernorMichael DiSalle 58.92% to 41.08%.
Jim Rhodes won a second term, defeatingFrazier Reams Jr. 62.18% to 37.82%
Jim Rhodes won a third term, defeating sittingGovernorJohn J. Gilligan 48.62% to 48.25%.
Jim Rhodes won a fourth term, defeatingDick Celeste 49.31% to 47.64%.
Jim Rhodes sought a fifth term at the age of seventy-seven, losing to sittingGovernorDick Celeste 39.4% to 60.6%. This was his last campaign for Governor.
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