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Military Service: Army

War(s) Served:  World War I

JACK ROBERT GAGE born in McCook, Nebraska, enlisted in the Army Coast Artillery Corp immediately after graduating from Worland, Wyoming High School in 1918. Discharged one year later, he went on to the University of Wyoming, completing a degree in agriculture in 1924. He taught school and ran a book store before being elected in 1934 to a four-year term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Defeated for reelection, he became Postmaster in Sheridan, followed by his election as Secretary of State in 1958. From that position, he succeeded to the governorship after Joseph Hickey resigned to be appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the unexpired term of Edwin Keith Thompson. Serving the duration of Hickey's gubernatorial term, Gage sought additional payments and lands from the federal government, and made an unsuccessful attempt to raise federal oil royalties for oil-producing states nearly threefold. After being defeated in the 1962 election for governor, he entered the private sector and authored several books, including Ten Sleep and No Rest, Pack of Lies, and Afoot and Horseback.

Sources:

The Council of State Governments: The Governors of the American States, Commonwealths, and Territories 1900-1980 (1980).

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

Wyoming State Archives