Governor of the State of South Carolina - Olin Dewitt Talmadge Johnston




Olin Dewitt Talmadge Johnston
68th Governor of the State of South Carolina 1935 to 1939 and 1943 to 1945

Date Born: November 18, 1896		Date Died: April 18, 1965
Place Born: Near Honea Path, SC		Place Buried: Barker's Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Honea Path, SC
Residence: Spartanburg, SC		Occupation: Lawyer, Sergeant in US Army

Textile Industrial Institute - Spartanburg, SC, graduated 1915 Wofford College - A.B. - 1923 University of South Carolina - M.A., LL.B. - 1924 South Carolina House of Representatives, 1923-1924, 1927-1930 US Senate, 1945-1965 Johnston was the first battalion commander of Wofford's ROTC Johnston was defeated in the 1930 Democratic gubernatorial primary by Ibra Charles Blackwood Johnston served in the US Senate from the time he resigned as governor until his death - 1945-1965 1934 - Johnston was elected without opposition, receiving 23,177 votes. October 28, 1935 – When highway commissioners appointed by past governors refused to leave their legally appointed posts, Governor Johnston declared martial law and mobilized the National Guard to occupy the offices of the Highway Department 1938 – Governor Johnston ran for the US Senate but was defeated by Ellison D. Smith in the Democratic Primary 1942 - Johnston was elected to a second term without opposition, receiving 23,859 votes. January 3, 1945 – Governor Johnston resigned to become a US Senator Johnston, Olin DeWitt Talmadge, a Senator from South Carolina; born near Honea Path, Anderson County, S.C., November 18, 1896; attended the public schools; graduated from Textile Industrial Institute, Spartanburg, S.C., in 1915; attended Wofford College, Spartanburg, S.C., until 1917 when he enlisted in the United States Army, serving eighteen months overseas, and becoming a sergeant; reentered Wofford College and graduated in 1921; received a graduate degree from the University of South Carolina at Columbia in 1923 and graduated from that university’s law department in 1924; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Spartanburg, S.C.; member, State house of representatives 1923-1924, 1927-1930; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for gubernatorial nomination in 1930; Governor of South Carolina 1935-1939, and from 1943 until his resignation on January 3, 1945; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in 1938 and 1941; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1944, 1950, 1956, and again in 1962, and served from January 3, 1945, until his death in Columbia, S.C., April 18, 1965; chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service (Eighty-first and Eighty-second Congresses, and Eighty-fourth through Eighty-ninth Congresses), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Postal Service (Eighty-second Congress); interment in Barkers Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, Honea Path, S.C.

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