Changes

==Career==

==Career==

Babcock served three terms in the Montana House of Representatives prior to his 1960 election as lieutenant governor, when [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] carried Montana against Senator  [[John F. Kennedy]]. He succeeded to the governorship in 1962 upon the death by airplane crash of Governor Donald Grant Nutter (1915-962). During his tenure, he proposed a three-percent sales tax to support the state government. In 1964, Babcock endorsed [[Barry Goldwater]] of [[Arizona]] for the [[Republican Party|Republican]] presidential nomination, one of only three of the then sixteen Republican governors. Babcock was joined by Governors [[Henry Bellmon]] of [[Oklahoma]] and [[Paul Fannin]] of Arizona. Goldwater was decisively defeated by the Democrat [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] of [[Texas]], who also won Montana's then four [[electoral votes]].<ref>{{cite journal|title= The 1964 Election in Montana|author=Thomas Payne|journal=The Western Political Quarterly|volume=18| issue = 2|quotation= The 1964 Elections in the West|date=June 1965|pages=491–494|doi=10.2307/445294|jstor= 445294}}</ref> Babcock narrowly won a full term in 1964 against the Democrat Roland R. Renne (1905-1989), the former president of Montana State University in Bozeman, then Montana State College. From 1964 to 1965, he a member of the National Governors' Conference Executive Committee, and from 1966 to 1967 he chaired the Western Governors' Conference.

Babcock served three terms in the Montana House of Representatives prior to his 1960 election as lieutenant governor, when [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[Richard M. Nixon]] carried Montana against Senator  [[John F. Kennedy]]. He succeeded to the governorship in 1962 upon the death by airplane crash of Governor Donald Grant Nutter (1915-962). During his tenure, he proposed a three-percent sales tax to support the state government. In 1964, Babcock endorsed [[Barry Goldwater]] of [[Arizona]] for the [[Republican Party|Republican]] presidential nomination, one of only three of the then sixteen Republican governors. Babcock was joined by Governors [[Henry Bellmon]] of [[Oklahoma]] and [[Paul Fannin]] of Arizona. Goldwater was decisively defeated by the Democrat [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] of [[Texas]], who also won Montana's then four [[electoral votes]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The 1964 Election in Montana|author=Thomas Payne|publisher=''The Western Political Quarterly''|volume=18| issue=2|date=June 1965|pages=491–494}}</ref>  

 

Babcock narrowly won a full term in 1964 against the Democrat Roland R. Renne (1905-1989), the former president of Montana State University in Bozeman, then Montana State College. From 1964 to 1965, he a member of the National Governors' Conference Executive Committee, and from 1966 to 1967 he chaired the Western Governors' Conference.

In 1966, Governor Babcock ran unsuccessfully against then incumbent [[United States Senator]] Lee Warren Metcalf (1911-1978), who improved his showing from his previous Senate race in 1960.

In 1966, Governor Babcock ran unsuccessfully against then incumbent [[United States Senator]] Lee Warren Metcalf (1911-1978), who improved his showing from his previous Senate race in 1960.