Clifford Hansen

Clifford Peter Hansen (October 16, 1912 – October 20, 2009) was an American politician from the state of Wyoming.

Hansen obtained his bachelor's degree in animal science from UW in 1934.

While at the university he was in the Epsilon Delta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity.

From 1943-1951, he was a Teton county commissioner.

He served as a member of the board of trustees from 1946-1966 to his alma mater, the University of Wyoming located in Laramie.

He was also a county commissioner in Jackson, the seat of Teton County in northwestern Wyoming.

He was a UW trustee from 1946 to 1966 and was the trustee board president from 1955 until 1962, when he resigned to run for governor.

From 1953-1955 he served as the president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.

Gage defeated William Jack to secure the Democratic nomination, 55.5-44.5 percent.

In the general election, Hansen polled 64,970 votes (54.5 percent) to Gage's 54,298 (45.5 percent).

Several newspapers in the American West referred to him as Wyoming's "cowboy governor".

Hansen's obituary contends that he "brought both the down-to-earth pragmatism of a lifelong cattle rancher and the affability of a small-town politician to Cheyenne and then to Washington, and he was on friendly and familiar terms throughout his career, not only with those on both sides of the political aisle, but also with elevator attendants, cafeteria workers, and staff members throughout the Capitol who called him friend."

As Governor, he increased appropriations for state programs to combat alcoholism and mental illness by more than 50 percent.

As his gubernatorial term wound down, Hansen decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat which was being vacated by the retiring Republican Milward L. Simpson.

He won that election with just under 52 percent of the vote.

In a fairly Republican year nationally, he defeated popular Representative at-large Teno Roncalio, a Democrat of Italian extraction.

Hansen received 63,548 votes (51.8 percent) to Roncalio's 59,141 (48.2 percent).

Hansen won the governorship in the 1962 mid-term elections by 10,000 votes.

He unseated the Democrat Jack R. Gage, who had served fewer than two years.

First, Hansen won the GOP primary over two opponents with 57 percent of the ballots.

A Republican, he served as the 26th Governor of Wyoming (January 7, 1963 – January 2, 1967) and subsequently as a United States senator (January 3, 1967 – December 31, 1978).

Hansen voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1972, Hansen was reelected to the Senate over Democrat Mike Vinich: 101,314 votes (71.3 percent) to 40,753 (28.7 percent).

Senator Hansen was known for social and fiscal conservatism.

He voted against sending the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the states for their consideration.

He opposed the Nixon administration's deployment of the anti-ballistic missile, a position which put him at odds with then Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird.

In 1976, Hansen supported the nomination and run for election of President Gerald R. Ford Jr., who won Wyoming's three electoral votes.

Hansen retired from the Senate in 1978, when he declined to run for a third term.

He moved back to Jackson and served on the Senate Finance Committee under chairman Russell B. Long.

Another one of Hansen accomplishments was national legislation that increased the share of mineral royalties collected on federal lands within the western states from 37.5 to 50 percent.

Before his death on October 20, 2009, he was the oldest living former U.S. Senator as well as the third oldest living former U.S. Governor.

Hansen was born in Zenith (now Teton County but then Lincoln County), a settlement so small that it is no longer listed on Wyoming road maps.

He was the son of Sylvia Irene (née Wood) and Peter Christofferson Hansen.

The senior Hansens were ranchers originally from Idaho: Peter, of Danish extraction, came from Soda Springs, and Sylvia, of English descent, was born in Blackfoot.

Peter Hansen, who had some college training, was a "practical" engineer who did surveying and ditch work on ranch lands.

Clifford Hansen grew up in Jackson Hole, a town in a high-mountain valley that includes the Grand Teton National Park.

There he attended public schools.

As a child, he overcame a serious speech impediment which baffled his teachers, some of whom first thought that he was "uneducable".

His problem was not inability to learn but a severe stutter which was corrected by his attendance at a special school.

Having overcome the speech impediment, Hansen forever stressed the value of an education, once having advised a grandson, "It's the one thing no one can take away from you."