About

HERSCHEL C. LOVELESS Iowa’s thirty-fourth governor, was born in Hedrick, Iowa on May 5, 1911. After graduating from Ottumwa High School, Loveless established careers with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and then with the John Morrell Company, where he worked as a turbine operator. From 1947 to 1949, he served as Ottumwa’s superintendent of streets. Loveless entered politics in 1949, serving as mayor of Ottumwa, a position he held two terms. He was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1952, and was defeated in his bid for Congress in 1954. Loveless won the 1956 Democratic gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor’s office on January 17, 1957. He was reelected to a second term in 1958. During his tenure, public schools were restructured into districts; a mental health fund was established; workmen’s compensation and unemployment compensation benefits were raised; a teacher’s minimum monthly pension was initiated; the state treasurer was authorized to collect interest on inactive state funds; and an extension of the two and half percent sales tax was vetoed. After finishing his term on January 12, 1961, Loveless retired from politics. From 1961 to 1969, he served on the Renegotiation Board, and later in 1969, served as the president of the Chromalloy American Corporation. Governor Herschel C. Loveless died on May 4, 1989, and was buried at the Ottumwa Cemetery.

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