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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder |name=Henry Louis Bellmon |image=Henry Bellmon of OK.jpg |office=Governor of Oklahoma |term_start=January 12, 1987 |term_end=January 14, 1991 |lieut..."
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Henry Louis Bellmon
|image=Henry Bellmon of OK.jpg
|office=[[Governor]] of Oklahoma
|term_start=January 12, 1987
|term_end=January 14, 1991
|lieutenant_governor=Robert S. Kerr, III
|preceded=George Nigh
|succeeded=David Walters
|term_start2=January 14, 1963
|term_end2=January 9, 1967
|preceded2=Leo Winters
|succeeded2=[[Dewey Bartlett]]
|office3= [[United States Senator]]<br> for Oklahoma
|term_start3= January 3, 1969
|term_end3= January 3, 1981
|predecessor3=Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney
|successor3=[[Don Nickles]]
|office4=Oklahoma State Representative
|term_start4=1946
|term_end4=1948
|birth_date=September 3, 1921
|birth_place=Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma
|death_date=September 29, 2009 (aged 88)
|death_place=Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma
|resting_place=Billings Union Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|spouse=Shirley Osborn Bellmon( born 1927; married 1947–2000, her death)<br> Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011; married 2002–2009, his death)
|children=Two step-children from second marriage:<br>
A. Scott and Barry Bollenbach
|alma_mater=Oklahoma State University at Stillwater
|branch=[[United States Marine Corps]]
|serviceyears=1942–1946
|rank=First lieutenant
|battles=[[World War II]]: Pacific theater of operations<br>
[[Battle of Iwo Jima]]
|awards=[[Silver Star]]<b>
Legion of Merit}}
'''Henry Louis Bellmon''' (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009)<ref name=findagrave>Henry Louis Bellmon (1921-2009) - Find A Grave Memorial
was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[politician]] from his native [[Oklahoma]]. Bellmon was elected to non-consecutive terms as [[governor]] in 1962 and 1986. He was the first Republican governor since statehood. From 1969 to 1981, he was a [[United States Senator]] for Oklahoma, having unseated the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] incumbent, Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney (1902-1980), while [[Richard M. Nixon]] was elected to the second of his three presidential victories in Oklahoma.
==Background==
Bellmon was born in Tonkawa in Kay County in northern Oklahoma, and graduated in 1938 from Billings (Oklahoma) High School. In 1942, he received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from what is now [[Oklahoma State University]]) in Stillwater. From 1942 to 1946, he was a [[lieutenant]] in the [[United States Marine Corps] and led a tank platoon in the Pacific theater of operations in [[World War II]]. He fought in the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]].<ref name=ency>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Carolyn G. Hanneman publisher=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |title=Bellmon, Henry Louis (1921- 2009)}}<ref>
For his service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and a Silver Star.<ref name=bellmonobit>Barbara Hoberock , "Former governor Henry Bellmon die," '''The Tulsa World,'' September 29, 2009.}}</ref> After the war he returned to [[farming]] before entering politics.
==Political life==
Bellmon served a single term as a state representative fourteen years before his initial election as governor. After his two terms in the U.S. Senate, he returned to the governorship. In 1960, he was the Oklahoma Republican state party chairman. Two years later, he defeated the Democrat developer W. P. "Bill" Atkinson (1906-1999), who planned Midwest City, Oklahoma, with 392,316 votes (55.3 percent). Governor Bellmon served as the chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission andsat on the executive committee of the [[National Governor's Association]].<ref name="CongBio">[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000351 Henry Bellmon] at the [[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]].</ref> He was unable to run for reelection in 1966 because of term limit, which were abolished that years; at the time, Oklahoma did not allow governors to succeed themselves. Fellow Republican [[Dewey Bartlett]] was elected as Bellmon's successor.
His 1974 contest for a second term in a heavily Democrat year ended in a disputed outcome. On election night, he led former ten-term [[U.S. Representative]] Edmond Augustus "Ed" Edmondson (1919-1990) by only 3,835 votes. Edmondson challenged the result and alleged irregularities in the voting, specifically that Tulsa County did not have levers to allow straight-ticket voting as required under state law. The state Supreme Court ruled that Edmondson could not demonstrate that the irregularities would have made him the winner. Edmondson then appealed to the Senate in January 1975, but the Senate voted, with all the Republicans and nine Democrats in agreemen, to seat Bellmon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/contested_elections/138Edmondson_Bellmon.htm |title=The Election Case of Edmond A. Edmondson v. Henry L. Bellmon of Oklahoma|date=1976 |publisher=United States Senate |accessdate=July 12, 2021}}</ref>
During his service in the Senate, Bellmon, a [[Moderate Republican]] sometimes took that put him at odds with the still conservative Oklahoma Republican Party. e backed unelected incumbent [[Gerald Ford]] over [[Ronald Reagan]] in the 1976 presidential nomination contest. He voted against the failed constitutional amendment to prohibit busing for racial balance in public schools. He supported the surrender of the [[Panama Canal] through the Torrijos–Carter treaties. During his second term he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. He co-founded the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which never produced a balanced budget.<ref name="CongBio"/><ref>Randy Krehbiel, "State mourns GOP giant: Ex-governor, senator dies at 88," ''The Tulsa World,'' September 30, 2009.</ref><ref name=findagrave/>He chose not to run for re-election in 1980<ref name="OklahomanObit"/> and was succeeded by a [[conservative]] Republican, [[Don Nickles]].
In 1976, Bellmon was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fam at the state capital of [[Oklahoma
City]].<ref>[http://www.oklahomaheritage.com/HallofFame/ByName/tabid/89/Default.aspx]</ref>
In 1982, former Senator Bellmon was appointed the interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services by Democratic Governor George Nigh, his predecessor in office for Bellmon's second term as governor.<ref name="OklahomanObit"/>
After the death of his first wife of fifty-three years, Shirley Osborn Bellmon (1927-2000) he wed a longtime friend, Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach (1927-2011), the widow of Irvin Keith Bollenbach (1919-1997). Irvin and Eloise Bollenbach founded and developed in 1945 the Kingfisher airport in Kingfisher in central Okilahoma. The airport operated a ground school, offered flight instruction, trained military personnel, provided charter service, and helped farmers with aerial spraying.<ref>Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed July 13, 2021}}</ref>
A few months before his death, ''The Oklahoman'' reported that Bellmon was living in Kingfisher with Eloise was farming despite severe health issues. He also taught at several Oklahoma universities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bryan Painter|title=Rural upbringing shapes former governor Henry Bellmon's life|publisher=''The Oklahoman''|page=6|date=March 1, 2009|url=http://www.newsok.com/rural-upbringing-shapes-former-governor-henry-bellmons-life/article/3349503}}</ref> He died at the age of eighty-eight after a long struggle with [[Parkinson's disease]]. He is interred by his first wife, Shirley, at Billings Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellmon, Henry}}
[[Category:Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Farmers]]
[[Category:Former Governors]]
[[Category:Republican Governors]]
[[Category:United States Senators]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps]]
[[Category:World War II]]
|name=Henry Louis Bellmon
|image=Henry Bellmon of OK.jpg
|office=[[Governor]] of Oklahoma
|term_start=January 12, 1987
|term_end=January 14, 1991
|lieutenant_governor=Robert S. Kerr, III
|preceded=George Nigh
|succeeded=David Walters
|term_start2=January 14, 1963
|term_end2=January 9, 1967
|preceded2=Leo Winters
|succeeded2=[[Dewey Bartlett]]
|office3= [[United States Senator]]<br> for Oklahoma
|term_start3= January 3, 1969
|term_end3= January 3, 1981
|predecessor3=Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney
|successor3=[[Don Nickles]]
|office4=Oklahoma State Representative
|term_start4=1946
|term_end4=1948
|birth_date=September 3, 1921
|birth_place=Tonkawa, Kay County, Oklahoma
|death_date=September 29, 2009 (aged 88)
|death_place=Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma
|resting_place=Billings Union Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma
|nationality=[[United States|American]]
|party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
|spouse=Shirley Osborn Bellmon( born 1927; married 1947–2000, her death)<br> Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011; married 2002–2009, his death)
|children=Two step-children from second marriage:<br>
A. Scott and Barry Bollenbach
|alma_mater=Oklahoma State University at Stillwater
|branch=[[United States Marine Corps]]
|serviceyears=1942–1946
|rank=First lieutenant
|battles=[[World War II]]: Pacific theater of operations<br>
[[Battle of Iwo Jima]]
|awards=[[Silver Star]]<b>
Legion of Merit}}
'''Henry Louis Bellmon''' (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009)<ref name=findagrave>Henry Louis Bellmon (1921-2009) - Find A Grave Memorial
was a [[Republican Party|Republican]] [[politician]] from his native [[Oklahoma]]. Bellmon was elected to non-consecutive terms as [[governor]] in 1962 and 1986. He was the first Republican governor since statehood. From 1969 to 1981, he was a [[United States Senator]] for Oklahoma, having unseated the [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] incumbent, Almer Stillwell "Mike" Monroney (1902-1980), while [[Richard M. Nixon]] was elected to the second of his three presidential victories in Oklahoma.
==Background==
Bellmon was born in Tonkawa in Kay County in northern Oklahoma, and graduated in 1938 from Billings (Oklahoma) High School. In 1942, he received a bachelor's degree in agriculture from what is now [[Oklahoma State University]]) in Stillwater. From 1942 to 1946, he was a [[lieutenant]] in the [[United States Marine Corps] and led a tank platoon in the Pacific theater of operations in [[World War II]]. He fought in the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]].<ref name=ency>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Carolyn G. Hanneman publisher=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |title=Bellmon, Henry Louis (1921- 2009)}}<ref>
For his service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and a Silver Star.<ref name=bellmonobit>Barbara Hoberock , "Former governor Henry Bellmon die," '''The Tulsa World,'' September 29, 2009.}}</ref> After the war he returned to [[farming]] before entering politics.
==Political life==
Bellmon served a single term as a state representative fourteen years before his initial election as governor. After his two terms in the U.S. Senate, he returned to the governorship. In 1960, he was the Oklahoma Republican state party chairman. Two years later, he defeated the Democrat developer W. P. "Bill" Atkinson (1906-1999), who planned Midwest City, Oklahoma, with 392,316 votes (55.3 percent). Governor Bellmon served as the chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission andsat on the executive committee of the [[National Governor's Association]].<ref name="CongBio">[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000351 Henry Bellmon] at the [[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]].</ref> He was unable to run for reelection in 1966 because of term limit, which were abolished that years; at the time, Oklahoma did not allow governors to succeed themselves. Fellow Republican [[Dewey Bartlett]] was elected as Bellmon's successor.
His 1974 contest for a second term in a heavily Democrat year ended in a disputed outcome. On election night, he led former ten-term [[U.S. Representative]] Edmond Augustus "Ed" Edmondson (1919-1990) by only 3,835 votes. Edmondson challenged the result and alleged irregularities in the voting, specifically that Tulsa County did not have levers to allow straight-ticket voting as required under state law. The state Supreme Court ruled that Edmondson could not demonstrate that the irregularities would have made him the winner. Edmondson then appealed to the Senate in January 1975, but the Senate voted, with all the Republicans and nine Democrats in agreemen, to seat Bellmon.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/contested_elections/138Edmondson_Bellmon.htm |title=The Election Case of Edmond A. Edmondson v. Henry L. Bellmon of Oklahoma|date=1976 |publisher=United States Senate |accessdate=July 12, 2021}}</ref>
During his service in the Senate, Bellmon, a [[Moderate Republican]] sometimes took that put him at odds with the still conservative Oklahoma Republican Party. e backed unelected incumbent [[Gerald Ford]] over [[Ronald Reagan]] in the 1976 presidential nomination contest. He voted against the failed constitutional amendment to prohibit busing for racial balance in public schools. He supported the surrender of the [[Panama Canal] through the Torrijos–Carter treaties. During his second term he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. He co-founded the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which never produced a balanced budget.<ref name="CongBio"/><ref>Randy Krehbiel, "State mourns GOP giant: Ex-governor, senator dies at 88," ''The Tulsa World,'' September 30, 2009.</ref><ref name=findagrave/>He chose not to run for re-election in 1980<ref name="OklahomanObit"/> and was succeeded by a [[conservative]] Republican, [[Don Nickles]].
In 1976, Bellmon was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fam at the state capital of [[Oklahoma
City]].<ref>[http://www.oklahomaheritage.com/HallofFame/ByName/tabid/89/Default.aspx]</ref>
In 1982, former Senator Bellmon was appointed the interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services by Democratic Governor George Nigh, his predecessor in office for Bellmon's second term as governor.<ref name="OklahomanObit"/>
After the death of his first wife of fifty-three years, Shirley Osborn Bellmon (1927-2000) he wed a longtime friend, Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach (1927-2011), the widow of Irvin Keith Bollenbach (1919-1997). Irvin and Eloise Bollenbach founded and developed in 1945 the Kingfisher airport in Kingfisher in central Okilahoma. The airport operated a ground school, offered flight instruction, trained military personnel, provided charter service, and helped farmers with aerial spraying.<ref>Laura Eloise Morsman Bollenbach Bellmon (1927-2011) - Find A Grave Memorial, accessed July 13, 2021}}</ref>
A few months before his death, ''The Oklahoman'' reported that Bellmon was living in Kingfisher with Eloise was farming despite severe health issues. He also taught at several Oklahoma universities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Bryan Painter|title=Rural upbringing shapes former governor Henry Bellmon's life|publisher=''The Oklahoman''|page=6|date=March 1, 2009|url=http://www.newsok.com/rural-upbringing-shapes-former-governor-henry-bellmons-life/article/3349503}}</ref> He died at the age of eighty-eight after a long struggle with [[Parkinson's disease]]. He is interred by his first wife, Shirley, at Billings Cemetery in Billings in Noble County, Oklahoma.<ref name=findagrave/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellmon, Henry}}
[[Category:Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Farmers]]
[[Category:Former Governors]]
[[Category:Republican Governors]]
[[Category:United States Senators]
[[Category:State Representatives]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]
[[Category:United States Marine Corps]]
[[Category:World War II]]