{{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<!-- page 20, https://issuu.com/uidahodigital/docs/gem1967/24 --> | order = 25th | office = Governor of Idaho | term_start = January 2, 1967 | term_end = January 4, 1971 | lieutenant = Jack Murphy | predecessor = 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, U.S. | resting_place = Pinecrest Memorial Park,<br>Sandpoint, Idaho, U.S. | spouse = {{Marriage|Ruby A. Samuelson|1936}}<!-- (1913–2002--><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 (attended) | party = Republican | allegiance = {{USA}} | service_years = 1944&ndash;1946 | branch = {{flag|United States Navy|name=U.S. Navy}} | rank = <!--Gunner's mate--> | unit = Farragut Naval Training&nbsp;Station | battles = World War II | footnotes = }} '''Donald William Samuelson''' (July 27, 1913 – January 20, 2000) was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th 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).

==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.

==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 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.<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 Smylie to run for the 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, he decided to run for governor in 1966, which was still held by three-term incumbent Smylie, a moderate Republican from Boise and former state attorney general. In a heated race that drew national attention to the Republican gubernatorial 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 were slated to face each other in the November general election. In mid-September, while flying from Pocatello to Coeur d'Alene, Herndon and two others were killed in a private plane crash in the central Idaho mountains, northwest of {{nowrap|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 Democrats nominated the runner-up in the primary, state senator Cecil Andrus of 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 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 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 nominee, Governor of Idaho |before=Robert E. Smylie |after=Jack M. Murphy |years=1966 (won), 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:American gunsmiths Category:People from Henry County, Illinois Category:People from Sandpoint, Idaho Category:20th-century members of the Idaho Legislature