Howard Mason Gore

{{Short description|American politician (1877–1947)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Howard Gore |image = Howard Mason Gore.jpg |caption = Gore in 1923 |office = 17th Governor of West Virginia |term_start = March 4, 1925 |term_end = March 4, 1929 |predecessor = Ephraim F. Morgan |successor = William G. Conley |office1 = 8th United States Secretary of Agriculture |president1 = Calvin Coolidge |term_start1 = November 22, 1924 |term_end1 = March 4, 1925 |predecessor1 = Henry Cantwell Wallace |successor1 = William Marion Jardine |office2 = Assistant Secretary of Agriculture |president2 = Calvin Coolidge |term_start2 = September 17, 1923 |term_end2 = November 21, 1924 |predecessor2 = Charles W. Pugsley |successor2 = Renick William Dunlap |office3 = 4th Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia |term_start3 = February 4, 1931<ref name= "Appointment"/> |term_end3 = March 4, 1933<ref name= "lastday"/> |governor3 = William G. Conley |predecessor3 = John W. Smith<ref name= "Appointment"/> |successor3 = James Blaine McLaughlin<ref name= "lastday">{{citeweb|url=https://agriculture.wv.gov/wp-content/uploads/jamesblainemclaughlin.pdf|title=James Blaine McLaughlin|publisher=West Virginia Department of Agriculture|access-date=September 9, 2025}}</ref> |birth_date = {{Birth date|1877|10|12}} |birth_place = Harrison County, West Virginia, U.S. |death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|6|20|1877|10|12}} |death_place = Clarksburg, West Virginia, U.S. |party = Republican |spouse = {{marriage|Roxie Gore|1906|1928|end=her death}} |education = West Virginia University, Morgantown (BA) }}

'''Howard Mason Gore''' (October 12, 1877{{spaced ndash}}June 20, 1947) was an American politician. He served as the 8th secretary of agriculture from 1924 to 1925 during the administration of President Calvin Coolidge. He served as the 17th governor of West Virginia from 1925 to 1929.

==Biography== thumb Gore was born in Harrison County, West Virginia, to farmer Solomon Deminion Gore and his wife Marietta Payne (''née'' Rogers). Gore attended West Virginia University in 1900. He married the former Roxalene (Roxie) Corder Bailey on September 30, 1906. She died on March 7, 1928, and he remained a widower in office.<ref name=wvfl>"West Virginia's First Ladies", West Virginia Division of Culture and History, June 2007.</ref>

Gore served as president of the West Virginia Livestock Association from 1912 until 1916. He was appointed to the West Virginia State Board of Education from 1920 until 1925.{{citation needed |date=April 2025}} He was Assistant Secretary of Agriculture from September 17, 1923, to November 21, 1924.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/centuryofservice00unit/mode/2up |title=Century of Service: The First 100 Years of the United States Department of Agriculture |last1=Baker |first1=Gladys L. |last2=Rasmussen |first2=Wayne D. |last3=Wiser |first3=Vivian |last4=Porter |first4=Jane M. |year=1963 |pages=452–453 |via=Archive.org |access-date=2025-04-26}}{{Open access}}</ref> On November 22, 1924, Gore served briefly as the secretary of agriculture following the death of his predecessor, Henry Cantwell Wallace (1866–1924).

On November 4, 1924, Gore was elected governor of West Virginia in the 1924 election. He assumed the governorship at the end of the partial first term of President Calvin Coolidge on March 4, 1925. Gore was appointed to serve as the West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture starting in February 1931, caused by the death of Commissioner John W. Smith.<ref name= "Appointment">{{citeweb|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hinton-daily-news-appointment/180722655/|title=Gore Named To Succeed John Smith|date=February 4, 1931|page=1|publisher=Hinton Daily News|access-date=September 9, 2025}}</ref> He left office in March 1933, after his successor was elected in the 1932 election.

He died in Clarksburg, West Virginia, on June 20, 1947. He is interred there in the Elkview Masonic Cemetery.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-10-04 |title=Howard M. Gore (1924–1925) {{!}} Miller Center |url=https://millercenter.org/president/coolidge/essays/gore-1924-secretary-of-agriculture |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=millercenter.org |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{commons category}} {{reflist|30em}}

==External links== * [http://www.wvculture.org/history/government/governors/gore.html Biography of Howard M. Gore] * [http://www.wvculture.org/history/government/governors/goreia.html Inaugural Address of Howard M. Gore] *West Virginia & Regional History Center at West Virginia University, [https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/search?q%5B%5D=howard+m+gore&op%5B%5D=&field%5B%5D=keyword&from_year%5B%5D=&to_year%5B%5D=&filter_fields%5B%5D=published_agents&filter_values%5B%5D=Gore%2C+Howard+M. Howard M. Gore papers]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Harry Wallace}} {{s-ttl|title=United States Secretary of Agriculture|years=1924–1925}} {{s-aft|after=William Jardine}} |- {{s-bef|before=Ephraim F. Morgan}} {{s-ttl|title=Governor of West Virginia|years=1925–1929}} {{s-aft|after=William G. Conley}} |- {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Ephraim F. Morgan}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of West Virginia|years=1924}} {{s-aft|after=William G. Conley}} |- {{s-bef|before=John W. Smith}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia|years=1932}} {{s-aft|after=Harvey A. Hall}} |- {{s-bef|before=Harvey A. Hall}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Agriculture Commissioner of West Virginia|years=1940}} {{s-aft|after=E. Bartow Jones}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gore, Howard M.}} Category:1877 births Category:1947 deaths Category:Republican Party governors of West Virginia Category:People from Harrison County, West Virginia Category:Secretaries of agriculture of the United States Category:Baptists from West Virginia Category:Coolidge administration cabinet members Category:20th-century West Virginia politicians Category:West Virginia University alumni Category:Members of the West Virginia Board of Education