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{{Short description|American politician}}
{{for|the Minnesota legislator|Don Samuelson (Minnesota politician)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Don Samuelson
|image = Don Samuelson.jpg
|image_size = 210px
|caption = From 1967's ''Gem of the Mountains'',<br>the yearbook of the [[University of Idaho]]
|order = 25th
|office = Governor of Idaho
|term_start = January 2, 1967
|term_end = January 4, 1971
|lieutenant = [[Jack M. Murphy|Jack Murphy]]
|predecessor = [[Robert E. Smylie|Robert Smylie]]
|successor = [[Cecil Andrus]]
|office1 = Member of the [[Idaho Senate]]
|term_start1 = 1960
|term_end1 = 1966
|birth_name = Donald William Samuelson
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|7|27|mf=y}}
|birth_place = [[Woodhull, Illinois]], U.S.
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|1|20|1913|7|27}}
|death_place = [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], U.S.
|resting_place = Pinecrest Memorial Park,<br>[[Sandpoint, Idaho]], U.S.
|spouse = {{Marriage|Ruby A. Samuelson|1936}}<ref name=ffloi>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aKFfAAAAIBAJ&pg=5223,443150|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|title=Former first lady of Idaho dies at 88|date=April 17, 2002|page=8A}}</ref>
|children = 2
|education = [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]] (attended)
|party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|allegiance = {{USA}}
|serviceyears = 1944–1946
|branch = {{flag|United States Navy|name=U.S. Navy}}
|rank = 
|unit = [[Farragut Naval Training Station]]
|battles = [[World War II]]
|footnotes=
}}
'''Donald William Samuelson''' (July 27, 1913 – January 20, 2000) was an American [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] politician who served as the 25th [[List of governors of Idaho|governor]] of [[Idaho]], from 1967 to 1971.<ref name=xgdcdis86>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V7VeAAAAIBAJ&pg=4603%2C1731177 |newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|last=Warbis|first=Mark |title=Ex-Gov. Don Samuelson dies at 86 of heart attack|date=January 21, 2000|page=C1}}</ref><ref name=gom67ds>{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/uidahodigital/docs/gem1967/24 |work=Gem of the Mountains|publisher=University of Idaho |title=Governor Donald W. Samuelson |year=1967 |page=20}}</ref><ref name=gem69ds>{{cite web |url=http://issuu.com/uidahodigital/docs/gem1969/36 |publisher=Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook |title=Governor Donald W. Samuelson |year=1969 |page=33}}</ref> He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid ([[1970 Idaho gubernatorial election|1970]]).

==Early life and education==
Born in [[Woodhull, Illinois]], Samuelson grew up on a farm,<ref name=wifrsc>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O7teAAAAIBAJ&pg=3086%2C476586|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|last=Lloyd |first=Paul G.S.|title=Winner foresaw success|date=August 4, 1966|page=1}}</ref> and attended [[Knox College (Illinois)|Knox College]].

==Career==
Samuelson served in the [[United States Navy]] during [[World War II]] as a weapons instructor and [[gunsmith]] at the [[Farragut Naval Training Station]], a major inland training facility at [[Lake Pend Oreille]] in [[Idaho Panhandle|northern]] [[Idaho]].

After the war, Samuelson stayed in the area; he brought his family out from Illinois and opened a sporting goods store in nearby [[Sandpoint, Idaho|Sandpoint]].<ref name=ahoy>{{cite journal | last = Love | first = Marianne | title = Sailors Ahoy! | url = http://www.sandpointonline.com/sandpointmag/sms96/Farragut.html | journal = Sandpoint Magazine | publisher = Keokee Co. Publishing, Inc. | date = Summer 1996}}</ref> He also had an interest in a business that sold and leased mining and logging equipment.<ref name=wifrsc/>

===Governor of Idaho===
A conservative, Samuelson was encouraged by Governor [[Robert E. Smylie|Robert Smylie]] to run for the [[Idaho Senate|state senate]] in 1960; Samuelson won and was re-elected in 1962 and 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Don William Samuelson|url=https://www.nga.org/governor/don-william-samuelson/|access-date=2021-10-10|website=National Governors Association}}</ref> After the Democratic landslide of [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]], he decided to run for governor in [[1966 Idaho gubernatorial election|1966]], which was still held by three-term incumbent Smylie, a moderate Republican from [[Boise, Idaho|Boise]] and former [[Idaho Attorney General|state attorney general]]. In a heated race that drew national attention to the Republican gubernatorial [[Partisan primary|primary]],<ref name=gsmidtr>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eTciAAAAIBAJ&pg=1052,2744359|newspaper=Owosso Argus-Times|location=(Michigan)|title=Governor Smylie in deep trouble|last=Boissat|first=Bruce|agency=NEA|date=July 30, 1966|page=4}}</ref><ref name=gwitsss>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=prxeAAAAIBAJ&pg=4865,4513425|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|title=Goldwater isn't taking sides on Smylie-Samuelson|date=July 29, 1966|page=1 }}</ref> Samuelson won handily, 61 to 39%.<ref name=psffsaf>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O7teAAAAIBAJ&pg=3086%2C476586 |newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho) |last=Myers|first=Robert|agency=Associated Press|title=1964 post-election fight seen as factor in Smylie's sound defeat by Samuelson|date=August 4, 1966|page=1}}</ref><ref name=slhheoa>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OrteAAAAIBAJ&pg=3699%2C306923|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|title=Smylie loses, Herndon holds edge on Andrus|date=August 3, 1966 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Duncombe|first=Herbert S.|last2=Martin|first2=Boyd A.|date=1967|title=The 1966 Election in Idaho|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/446084|journal=The Western Political Quarterly|volume=20|issue=2|pages=568–575|doi=10.2307/446084|issn=0043-4078|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Following their wins in the early August primary, Samuelson and attorney Charles Herndon of [[Salmon, Idaho|Salmon]] were slated to face each other in the November general election. In mid-September, while flying from [[Pocatello, Idaho|Pocatello]] to [[Coeur d'Alene, Idaho|Coeur d'Alene]], Herndon and two others were killed in a private plane crash in the [[Central Idaho|central]] Idaho mountains, northwest of {{nowrap|[[Stanley, Idaho|Stanley]].<ref name=sdccras>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xFdYAAAAIBAJ&pg=6490%2C3969092|work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=(Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Idaho nominee for governor is crash victim |date=September 15, 1966 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=bbidck>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JP9XAAAAIBAJ&pg=2341%2C3456793 |work=The Bulletin |location=(Bend, Oregon) |agency=UPI |title=Idaho Democratic candidate is killed |date=September 15, 1966 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=ergiccgc>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DOUQAAAAIBAJ&pg=7092%2C2932968 |work=Eugene Register-Guard |location=(Oregon) |agency=Associated Press |title=Idaho Crash Claims Governor Candidate |date=September 15, 1966 |page=4A}}</ref><ref name=ackicfg>{{cite news|url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_i1IAAAAIBAJ&pg=2709,2050908|newspaper=Morning-Record|location=(Meriden, Connecticut)|agency=Associated Press|title=Air crash kills Idaho candidate for governor|date=September 16, 1966|page=17 }}</ref>}} The pilot of the twin-engine [[Piper PA-23]] was the only survivor.<ref name=ntsb669>{{cite news|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief.aspx?ev_id=22661&key=0|publisher=NTSB|title= SEA67A0023, Piper PA-23, N4242P|date=September 14, 1966|access-date=March 15, 2013}}</ref> Occurring only seven weeks before the election, the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] nominated the runner-up in the primary, state senator [[Cecil D. Andrus|Cecil Andrus]] of [[Orofino, Idaho|Orofino]],<ref name=nomcea>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=B6tWAAAAIBAJ&pg=7488,1822422|newspaper=Spokesman-Review|location=(Spokane, Washington)|title=Andrus Democratic nominee|agency=Associated Press|date=September 21, 1966|page=13}}</ref> whom Samuelson defeated by over 10,000 votes.<ref name=cgcbs>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kw0zAAAAIBAJ&pg=6697%2C2977228|newspaper=Spokesman-Review|location=(Spokane, Washington)|agency=Associated Press|title=Conservatism given credit by Samuelson|date=November 10, 1966 |page=1 }}</ref>

During the 1970 gubernatorial campaign, Samuelson supported [[molybdenum]] mining in central Idaho's [[White Cloud Mountains]],<ref name=samreit>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=btJRAAAAIBAJ&pg=5524,2870546|newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune|location=(Idaho)|agency=Associated Press|title=Samuelson reiterates support of mining in White Clouds|date=September 17, 1969|page=1}}</ref><ref name=plqcip>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BVlWAAAAIBAJ&pg=3558,8530927&dq=molybdenum&hl=en |newspaper=Spokesman-Review|agency=Associated Press|last=Kenyon|first=Quane|title=Priest Lake question colors Idaho politics|date=April 29, 1985|page=A1}}</ref> and was defeated for re-election by Andrus, a staunch opponent of the mining development, and returned to private life.<ref name="ativte">{{cite news|date=November 4, 1970|title=Andrus tops Idaho vote|page=1|newspaper=Spokane Daily Chronicle|agency=Associated Press|location=(Washington)|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5jkVAAAAIBAJ&pg=1584%2C1088404}}</ref>

Following Samuelson's win in 1966, Democrats won the next six gubernatorial elections in Idaho, through [[Idaho gubernatorial election, 1990|1990]].

==Personal life==
He and his wife, Ruby A. Samuelson, were married in 1936 and had two children.<ref name="wifrsc" /><ref name="nagvcn">{{cite web|title=Don Samuelson|url=http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_idaho/col2-content/main-content-list/title_samuelson_don.html|access-date=25 September 2012|publisher=National Governors Association}}</ref>

Samuelson died at age 86 of a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on January 20, 2000, at the [[Swedish Medical Center]] in [[Seattle]]. He is interred at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint, Idaho.<ref name=xgdcdis86/><ref>{{cite web|title=Don Samuelson|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/samson-samul.html#030.13.19|publisher=The Political Graveyard|access-date=25 September 2012}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.nga.org/cms/home/governors/past-governors-bios/page_idaho/col2-content/main-content-list/title_samuelson_don.html National Governors Association]
*[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/samson-samul.html#030.13.19 ''The Political Graveyard'']
*{{Find a Grave|7012663}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ppo}}
{{Succession box
|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] nominee, [[Governor of Idaho]]
|before=[[Robert E. Smylie]]
|after=[[Jack M. Murphy]]
|years=[[1966 Idaho gubernatorial election|1966]] (won), [[1970 Idaho gubernatorial election|1970]] (lost)
}}
{{S-off}}
{{Succession box
| before= [[Robert E. Smylie]]
| title= [[Governor of Idaho]]
| years= January 2, 1967 – January 4, 1971
| after= [[Cecil Andrus]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Governors of Idaho}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuelson, Don}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Methodists from Idaho]]
[[Category:Republican Party governors of Idaho]]
[[Category:Gunsmiths]]
[[Category:People from Henry County, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Sandpoint, Idaho]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Idaho Legislature]]

Don Samuelson - Revision history

imported>OAbot: Open access bot: url-access updated in citation with #oabot.