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Executive Mansion 1
Executive Mansion 2

Like a number of other Pennsylvania Governors, humble beginnings, hard work, and courage were the paths to the Governor’s Office for Arthur H. James.

He grew up in a small coal-mining town, worked in the mines, and knew the meaning of hardship. He worked hard and saved money that along with what his father was able to loan him, enabled him to go to college immediately after graduating in 1901. James was the youngest member of his class at Dickinson. He made the Dickinson varsity basketball team. His class of 1904 made history by being the first law class ever to pass the Supreme Court examination without a failure. He was admitted to the Bar and opened his own law practice.

He ran for District Attorney of Luzerne County in 1919 and won. He also held the elected positions of Lieutenant Governor and Judge of the Pennsylvania Superior Court before running, in 1938, for Governor and winning.

He campaigned on a program of economy and no "must" legislation. He was a firm believer in the fundamental American principle of three separate branches of government – each free from interference from the other two. Only after the Assembly had passed the bills and they were on his desk for his signature or veto, would he consider the contents. At the end of the first legislative session James signed 474 bills and vetoed 71.

Upon taking office he began to trim down the size of Pennsylvania’s bureaucracy. He ordered all departments to fire unneeded workers and then to abolish the positions saving the citizens of Pennsylvania $21,600,000 in salaries. James’ personal knowledge of State affairs was the main factor that enabled him, more than any other Governor, to walk through and clean up the Commonwealth’s entrenched governmental red tape bureaucracy. This bureaucracy, known as the "invisible government", was created by the previous administrations’ high-ended New Deal living.

Economic rehabilitation was progressing at the State level as well as in the business world. Employment figures began to rise. Through James’ efforts, Pennsylvania began to receive its fair share of millions of dollars Work Projects Administration funds – a Federal work-relief agency. Industry returned to Pennsylvania.

Successes included re-establishing home rule; changing the State’s liquor administration to one of the best; the extension of the highway safety campaign which reduced the toll of highway deaths; the passage of badly needed labor laws; a revised Workmen’s Compensation Act; and the reduction of coal min accidents.

James had already been preparing for impending war for a long time before Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. By doing so Pennsylvania, in historic tradition, was ready with 200,000 persons already actively enrolled in the State Council of Defense. Pennsylvania, it became evident, was running the most important Selective Service headquarters in the United States.

Before leaving office, Governor James received official commendations from almost every principal official associated with the U.S. war effort. Pennsylvania was an outstanding leader in national defense. Governor James’ legacy was a most distinguished war administration.

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Edward Martin
Term 97, 1943-1947, born in Greene County

The torch was passed to Edward Martin.

Martin entered college at the age of 16. His education was interrupted by the Spanish-American War during which time he served with troops commanded by General Arthur MacArthur, father of General Douglas MacArthur. He contracted malaria and upon discharge re-entered college.

Concurrently he went to college and also re-enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard. After graduation, he was admitted to a law practice and commissioned a captain and began his political career as secretary of the Greene County Republican Committee.

Major Martin served on the Mexican Border campaign under General John J. Pershing and upon demobilization, reorganization for World War I was begun. In France as a battalion commander he led five major offensives, was wounded, gassed, and received the Distinguished Service Cross twice.

Before becoming Governor, General Martin was elected Auditor General and State Treasurer. The Great Depression hit during his term as State Treasurer. Despite none of the State’s money in the keeping of the State Treasurer being lost, General Martin, like many thousands of others, lost all of his own money having to start from scratch financially.

Governor James appointed Martin Adjutant General during which time he got complete Federal construction at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation that made it a great military training center.

The Senate and House established the Post-War Planning Commission under Martin’s direction. They were the first legislative bodies in the country to create, by law, such a commission that would prepare Pennsylvania against the shock of industrial re-conversion to peacetime business. The plan would begin with the restoration of Pennsylvania’s great road system, neglected because of the war effort.

Also undertaken at the end of the war was a program for water purification. The Brunner Bill, to end stream pollution, was passed under Martin’s guidance. The first step was a mammoth cleaning up process for the Schuylkill River.

In the history of the State, this bill and the compacts for protection and conservation of the waterways were the first steps in the conservation of Pennsylvania’s natural resources.

Also recommended and received was money for construction, extension, and modernization of the State hospitals, State schools, and State penal and correctional institutions.

At the end of the war, Pennsylvania had been at the forefront of war production and was then at the forefront of post-war planning.

At the end of his term, Martin decided to run for the U.S. Senate. Martin was only the third Governor of Pennsylvania to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the company of William Findlay, in 1821, and William Bigler, in 1855.

To establish his Senatorial seniority, Martin resigned nineteen days before his term ended on January 21, 1947. James H. Duff was Governor-elect but under the Pennsylvania Constitution, John C. Bell, Jr. became Governor.

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Bell was Governor of Pennsylvania for nineteen days. He lost no time in moving into the Mansion and the Governor’s office and entered with all the pomp and circumstance as if he had been elected to a four-year term.

His short term was not distinguished by any great acts due to the length of time. It may be noted though that had he been elected to the position, his administration may have been punctuated with all the flourishes of Philadelphia’s Main Line society into which he was born. This is evidenced by Bell’s first official act of ordering twenty state limousines, driven by uniformed State Police, to haul his friends back to the train after the inauguration evening’s festivities.

It was during Governor James’ administration that Bell, as Secretary of Banking, was given the tremendous responsibility of overseeing the liquidation of closed banks and building and loan associations.

He returned to private law practice after his nineteen-day term ended. He remained active in politics and decided to run for the Gubernatorial primaries in 1950. But Governor Duff, on March 18, 1950, appointed him as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In November 1950 he was elected to a full twenty-one year term on the highest State bench.

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Duff was an attorney for thirty-six years but also got into the oil business, real estate business, and politics.

He supported Arthur James for Governor and was then appointed Attorney General of the Commonwealth.

Duff was the post World War II Governor and immediately embarked on implementing the well-planned and financially sound post-war program left to him by James and Martin.

Duff asked for and received an increase in cigarette taxes, a new tax on soda pop and soft drinks, reinstatement of a tax on capital stocks, and a measure that allowed local communities to levy taxes on anything not already taxed by the State. These taxes were to be used beyond the post-war program plans already laid out.

Duff was extremely successful in carrying out the plans for the post-war program. His accomplishments in those areas included correcting the overcrowded condition in the State’s mental hospitals, dramatic progress in conservation and stream cleaning, and highway construction and improvement.

Duff decided to run for the United States Senate and handpicked his predecessor, Judge John S. Fine, as the gubernatorial candidate. The primary battle, "was universally described as, the most bitter, hard-hitting and devastating political primary battle in the long history of Pennsylvania Republican politics."

Both Duff and Fine won the primary election and the general election in November 1950.

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Growing up, one of eleven children in a coal town in Luzerne County, and hearing first-generation Americans, from three to four different countries, speak in their native languages each day was an experience that gave him a deep understanding of his friends and neighbors. He would remember this throughout his life.

He graduated from Dickinson Law School and was admitted to practice before the State Superior Court. He entered politics and served in World War I as a sergeant. Fine helped Pinchot to get elected and in turn was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerene County. Governor Duff appointed Fine as a Judge of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Fine continued the policies of Governor Duff and went beyond in several areas. He made an intense study of the State budget as financing was to be one of his most important problems. So he pushed for more taxes so as not, "…to compromise our tax difficulties at the expense of business." Public health was a priority as the American Public Health Association ranked Pennsylvania among the lowest states in public health. He pushed for a constitutional convention that was rejected. The Legislature reluctantly reapportioned districts of state representatives, but did not touch senatorial districts.

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Leader was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate in 1950 and elected Governor in 1954.

His major contribution was administrative reform and his major problems included the fiscal crisis, taxation, patronage, and pardons. Leader’s health, education, and welfare, and economic development programs were costly and required new taxes. A compromise on a temporary 3% selective sales tax and a 1% hike in the corporate income tax alleviated the impending bankruptcy issue.

To get the state’s economy moving forward, an act appropriated $5 million to build factories in high-unemployment areas. But in 1956 the Republications held an even higher majority in the Legislature and prohibited Leader’s plans to develop industry, expand health and welfare services, clear slums, and to provide college scholarships.

Leader, as Governor of Pennsylvania, in 1955 controlled more patronage than any other governor and more offices than the President of the United States. His choices for appointments frequently offended both Republicans and Democrats. In reply, he said, "No program can be effectively carried out unless we have first rate people in jobs that call for special training or special skills."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, as it does today, fabricated a story of abuse of the governor’s pardoning power not mentioning the fact that a Pennsylvania Governor cannot give pardons without the recommendation of the Board of Pardons. The facts were that Leader and his board granted fewer pardons than any of his recent predecessors.

Leader carried out the administrative reform program that had been given to him from the Fine administration. Leader was able to attract highly qualified personnel who infuse new life into the state service and overhauled central staff services and introduced new structures into the governor’s office.

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Lawrence served in the Judge Advocate Department during World War I and was discharged a commissioned officer.

His political career began when he served as U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue for the Western District of Pennsylvania. In 1934 he was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth. He was mayor of Pittsburgh for four successive terms. Under his terms as Mayor, he cleaned up the air pollution; built a new airport, bridges, expressways, parks, a new medical center, civic and cultural center and public housing units; and expanded universities. He was named one of the nine outstanding Mayors of the United States in 1957.

Through Lawrence’s political skill, the politically divided Legislature agreed to increase the cigarette tax and sales taxes. The general appropriation bills that were passed were just short of Lawrence’s original goal.

Lawrence sought massive Federal aid to solve Pennsylvania’s social problems. The metropolitan commuter crisis, slum removal, urban renewal, and improving "the grossly inhumane conditions" of migrant workers were top priorities.

In 1961 he got a fair-housing law passed that banned discrimination but in a similar underdog case took the side of the demands of urban society. He along with President Kennedy supported the Kinzua Dam that when built would protect Pittsburgh from floods and provide water storage for its industries. But, when built, the dam would flood the Seneca’s best land and destroy reservation life – land that had been given to them by a 1794 treaty signed by George Washington. The Federal government claimed eminent domain, ignored Washington’s treaty, completed the dam in 1965, appropriated $15 million to relocate the Seneca’s, and flooded their lands.

Lawrence, the oldest man to become Governor, was a champion of the aged.

The Legislature promoted tourism in the state but was less enthusiastic about Lawrence’s request to make sweeping changes in school organization.

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Scranton served as a Captain in World War II as a pilot and operations officer and also served in the Air Force Reserve.

He was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1960 and Governor of Pennsylvania in 1962. He has been called one of the most progressive Governors in Pennsylvania history. Scranton’s main objective was industrial development. He was able to get passed through the Legislature programs for education, conservation, transportation, human rights, industrial development, unemployment compensation, and a list of other vital issues. Scranton also applied for Federal aid to help with state programs.

Scranton was an ardent supporter of civil rights legislation at the Federal and State levels.

Appalled at Senator Barry Goldwater’s opposition to the Civil Rights Act, Scranton made a last minute campaign to run for the Presidency against President Johnson. Scranton was afraid for the future of the Republican Party and felt he was the more legitimate successor to the party of Abraham Lincoln than Goldwater. But he lost his bid for the nomination at the Republican Convention.

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Shafer received his law degree in 1941.

He was commissioned and ensign in the Navy and during World War II logged over eighty combat missions in PT Boats, brought General MacArthur back to Corregidor, and received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Shafer is pictured in the official U.S. Navy Volume on PT-Boat Operations aboard a rubber raft, evacuating paratroopers pinned down by sniper fire on a small Pacific island.

After the war, he became a partner in a law practice. He was elected District Attorney of Crawford County twice. In 1958 he was elected to the Pennsylvania Senate and in 1962 he was elected Lieutenant Governor. Shafer was the first Lieutenant Governor in Pennsylvania history to have successfully run for the office of Governor.

The main objective of the Shafer administration was constitutional reform. The areas of reform to be address at a constitutional convention would be reapportionment, the judiciary, local government, and state finances. On April 24, 1968 the new articles, with shortcomings, were adopted with strong support.

Progressive ideas included increased efforts to provide social services and to rehabilitate the economy.

Although in a continuing financial crisis, the Legislature would not deal with the realities of setting spending priorities and the means to pay for them. Shafer fought an uphill battle with the Legislature over finances.

He outlined his accomplishments as having included the following – significant achievements in education, transportation, environmental conservation, human relations, fair housing, and long-term budget planning.

During his administration, he continued to enact and promote the policies he had been supporting from the beginning of his time in Harrisburg.

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Milton J. Shapp
Term 105, 1971-1979, born in Cuyahoga, OH

Shapp was first elected Governor in 1970 and again in 1974. It was the first time since 1936 that the Democrats gained control of the governorship and the Legislature. He is credited, during his first years of administration, with instituting a program of modern management and restoring fiscal stability to the state that was on the verge of bankruptcy. He was also known for his consumer advocate policies, innovative programs for the elderly and handicapped, and sweeping welfare reform.

Shapp’s pioneering programs include:

• The most comprehensive "Sunshine Law" in the nation.
• Property tax relief and free public transit for senior citizens.
• A toll-free hotline to the Governor’s Office for citizen problems.
• Close supervision of the insurance industry, enactment of no-fault insurance and sweeping reforms to control rising health care costs.
• Strict control over the state budget and payroll leading, in 1974, to the first across-the-board tax cut in a generation.
• A highly successful program of strip mine control and land reclamation that has become a model for national legislation.
• The application of modern business methods to government, saving Pennsylvania taxpayers $225 million a year.
• Creative use of the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to stimulate business development in the Commonwealth.

Although personally honest, there was rampant corruption during his administration. Ironically, he had run in 1970 as a high-minded reformer who was opposed to the corrupt political machine. Shapp did not create corrupt congressmen or elect corrupt legislators to office, but he looked the other way.

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Richard Nixon, in 1969, appointed Richard Thornburgh United States District Attorney during which time he convicted forty local, state, and Federal officials. President Ford then appointed him the head of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.

Thornburgh was able to rally the Republican Party to his support campaigning on the Democratic corruption and the need for a drastic change that only a Republican could bring. Coupled with Shapp’s retirement and that of Rizzo’s anticipated retirement, a rejuvenated Republican Party was ready to meet head-on the old and new issues of the 1980’s.

A little more than two months into his administration, Thornburgh was faced with the worst accident in the nuclear power industry in the history of the United States. The location was the Three Mile Island plant in Middletown. No one, those who worked at the plant, the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nor Thornburgh, knew if there was a possibility of a meltdown or a hydrogen explosion. To this day the effects of the exposure to the radiation to those living in the area and to those who were affected by the radiation being carried by air will never be known.

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Casey, the son of a coal miner, put himself through law school and at the age of thirty, won a seat in the State House of Representatives. He was twice elected State Auditor General. He persevered after losing three campaigns for the governorship. On his fourth try, he won by the largest margin in the history of Pennsylvania.

Casey was a delegate to the Pennsylvania State Constitutional Convention in 1967 where he served as First Vice President. He played a role in the writing and ratification of the Commonwealth’s current constitution.

During Casey’s administration, Pennsylvania enacted mandatory recycling reform, auto insurance reform, the Child Health Insurance Program (which became a national model), and the workers’ compensation system was overhauled. Special education programs were broadened and through PENNVEST, aging water and sewer systems were rebuilt. A State Superfund was enacted to reclaim hazardous waste sites.

Casey brought family and parental leave to Pennsylvania and initiated economic development and high-tech efforts across the state.

He was committed to education, the environment, workers’ rights, and the underprivileged. He was a staunch supporter of pro-life and never wavered from his convictions.

In June 1993, Casey became just the sixth person in the United States to have a heart-liver transplant because of a rare disease from which he suffered. After the transplant, he returned to the Governor’s Office, proposed and signed into legislation one of the most comprehensive State organ donor laws in the country.

Because of Governor Casey’s leadership, more than 4,000 people in Pennsylvania and surrounding regions have benefited, since 1994, from the legislation by receiving lifesaving organ transplants.

Governor Casey died on May 30, 2000 from his disease.

About the document.  On June 15, 2001 Representative Jeffrey Coy, Chambersburg, made a significant donation to Allison-Antrim Museum of former Governor Robert P. Casey's signature. Since the gift of Governor Pennypacker's signature in the spring of 2001, there remained only one missing signature from the 20^th century Pennsylvania Governors' Signature Collection. That signature belonged to Robert P. Casey who died in May 2000.

The search to acquire the Casey signature for Allison-Antrim Museum was undertaken by Michele Emmett of Greencastle.  Emmett contacted Mark Buterbaugh of Coy's Chambersburg office who was a great help with the acquisition process.

The signature is on the certificate that commemorates the passage and signing of House Bill 121, Auto Insurance Reform, dated February 7, 1990. The Auto Insurance Reform bill was sponsored by Coy and was one of the well-known accomplishments of Casey's administration.   The pen used to sign the bill by former Governor Casey was also included in the gift.

With Governor Casey's signature, AAMI now has all of the signatures of the Governors of Pennsylvania from the 20^th Century and every governor's signature, consecutively, dating back to the 80^th term of John F. Hartranft whose term began in 1873.

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Ridge was the first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran to be elected to the House of Representatives and Governor of Pennsylvania.  He earned the Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam.

Ridge earned his law degree upon returning to Pennsylvania and was an assistant district attorney in Erie County.

Ridge followed through on his campaign promise to make Pennsylvania “a leader among states and a competitor among nations”.  In May 2000, he signed the largest tax cut in Pennsylvania history. Pennsylvania families and employers saved nearly $12.7 billion through tax cuts, workers’ compensation reform, reduced red tape and electric competition.  Because of this, more than 350,000 new jobs were created.  Pennsylvanians were the first consumers to be able to shop competitively for electricity and natural gas. Pennsylvania’s personal income tax rates are among the Nation’s lowest.

Ridge wanted to make Pennsylvania a high-tech leader to ensure long-term prosperity.  He signed the nation’s first E-commerce law that gave digital signatures the same legal standing as paper signatures.  A bold economic-development concept to make business-to-government contact “Friction-Free” was launched.  Ridge won a scholarship program to stop the high-tech brain drain from Pennsylvania and he eliminated the state tax on computer services.

State education was a top priority.  Ridge won legislation that created charter public schools, alternative education for disruptive students, and professional development for teachers. He initiated the “Read to Succeed” program and invested more than $200 million in education technology.  This includes the nationally acclaimed Link-to-Learn program that expands the use of computer technology in Pennsylvania classrooms. School choice was always on his list of goals.

Pennsylvania is a national leader in the environment.  The nationally acclaimed Land Recycling Program enables abandoned industrial sites to be cleaned up and provided jobs for 17,000 people.  “Growing Greener” appropriated nearly $650 million to address the critical environmental priorities of the 21^st century and “Growing Smarter” is a land-use plan that gives local governments new land use tools to control sprawl while respecting the rights of property owners.

The horrific events of September 11, 2001 changed the leadership of Pennsylvania, the only state so affected. As a long-time close friend of President George W. Bush, Ridge resigned as Governor of Pennsylvania on October 5, 2001 when Bush asked him to become the Director of the Office of Homeland Security, at the national level.

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Mark Schweiker
Term 109, 2001-2003, born in Bucks County

Lieutenant Governor Mark Schweiker assumed the governorship of Pennsylvania on October 5, 2001, upon the resignation in office of Governor Tom Ridge.  Pennsylvania was the only state affected in this way as a result of the events of September 11, 2001.

The top priority in Schweiker’s term was the safety and security of Pennsylvania’s neighborhoods, which was a result of September 11th.  His first Executive Order created a Security Task Force, which focused on creating a comprehensive anti-terrorism strategy for the state.  To improve the daily safety and security of Pennsylvanians, Schweiker also signed legislation that increased the State Police force by 100 persons.  It was last increase was in 1972. 

A Rapid Response Team was created to provide quick assistance to dislocated workers, which will help keep employees in the state and attract new employers. Schweiker also committed himself to helping Philadelphia’s trouble school system.

The troubled National economy was reflected in Pennsylvania’s economy at the time Schweiker became Governor.  He had a lot of hard decisions to make and wasn’t afraid to make them.  Cigarette taxes went up and state departments were asked to hold the line on their budgets, with little or no increases.  School districts eventually received a 2% increase in the budget.

Schweiker came to the National forefront during the rescue of nine Somerset County miners who were trapped for 77 hours during the end of July 2002.  

Had he not decided that he wouldn’t run for Governor in 2002, perhaps the race against Governor Ed Rendell would have been a little closer and Pennsylvania’s future and ultimately, its history would have been different.  

Ed Rendell
Term 110, 2003-

Ed Rendell’s first priority will be shoring up the state’s MCare fund, which pays court-awarded damages to patients injured by the negligence of doctors.  Before taking his oath of office, Rendell along with Schweiker appeared at a December 2002 press conference to stop the mutiny of Pennsylvania doctors who threatened to close their practices and/or move out of the state on January 1, 2003.  Rendell and Schweiker asked the doctors to consider the plan a “show of good faith” until Congress is back in session in January.

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