Mel Carnahan
Melvin Eugene Carnahan was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 51st governor of Missouri from 1993 until his death in 2000. Carnahan was a Democrat and held various positions in government.
Born in rural Missouri, Carnahan was the son of Representative A. S. J. Carnahan and attended campaign events with his father. He moved to Washington, D.C., with his father and attended high school and college there. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Carnahan returned to Missouri, graduating from the University of Missouri in 1959. Shortly after, he moved to Rolla with an eye on entering politics.
First elected as a municipal judge in 1960, Carnahan was elected as a state representative for Phelps County in 1962, where he became majority leader during his second term. After being defeated in a race for state senate in 1966, Carnahan practiced law in Rolla. He returned to politics in 1980, being elected as state treasurer. He served in the post for four years and was defeated in the Democratic primary for governor in 1984. In 1988, he made a second political comeback, winning an election for lieutenant governor, the sole Democratic win statewide.
In 1992, Carnahan made a second bid for governor and defeated St. Louis Mayor Vincent Schoemehl in the Democratic primary. In the general election, he defeated state Attorney General William Webster, becoming the first Democrat elected governor since 1976. During his first term, he signed legislation concerning education and taxes into law. He also dealt with crises such as the Great Flood of 1993. Carnahan was re-elected in 1996, defeating State Auditor Margaret Kelly. During his second term, he faced adversity on issues such as abortion, where his veto of a bill restricting abortion was overridden by the state legislature, and faced controversy surrounding his pardon of a death row inmate at the behest of Pope John Paul II.
In 2000, he ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent John Ashcroft in a hotly contested election. During the final weeks of the campaign, Carnahan was killed in a plane crash while on his way to a campaign event. He was posthumously elected to the U.S. Senate, and his widow, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to serve in the Senate until a special election was held in 2002.
Early life and education
Melvin Eugene Carnahan was born in Birch Tree, Missouri, and grew up on a small farm near Ellsinore. He was the son of Mary Kathel and A. S. J. Carnahan, and had one sibling, an older brother, Robert "Bob" Carnahan. Carnahan's mother was a teacher, and his father was the superintendent of Ellsinore schools. In 1944, the elder Carnahan was elected to the United States House of Representatives, representing the eighth congressional district, serving from 1945 to 1947 and from 1949 to 1961. He later became the U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone under John F. Kennedy. As a child, Mel Carnahan traveled with his father across the district, attending local events and helping with the campaign. In 1948, because his father was running for Congress, Carnahan was present for Harry Truman's final campaign stop in St. Louis during that year's presidential election. The younger Carnahan later said he developed a desire to enter politics because of his father.In 1945, Carnahan moved to Washington, D.C., with his family, though they moved back to Missouri when his father lost re-election in 1946. He moved back to D.C. in 1949, where he met his future wife, Jean, at a Baptist church. He graduated from Anacostia High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts in business administration at George Washington University in 1954. After graduating, Carnahan joined the United States Air Force but failed the physical, fainting during a blood test. He then served as a special agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations from 1954 to October 1956. He rose to the rank of first lieutenant. After returning home, he received a Juris Doctor from the University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia in 1959, graduating Order of the Coif. He then moved to Rolla, the largest city in his father's congressional district, intending to follow his father's career path.
Early political career
State legislator
Carnahan's political career started in 1960 at 26 when he was elected to serve as a judge in Rolla. In 1962, he ran for a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives. In the Democratic primary, Carnahan defeated three opponents. That November, he won the election for the Phelps County house district. He won re-election in 1964, and that same year, the Democratic caucus elected him as assistant floor leader to majority leader H. F. Patterson. In 1965, Patterson died, and the caucus elected Carnahan as his successor.During his tenure, Carnahan voted in favor of a motion to increase the state's sales tax to 3% and voted against a measure requiring tax increases to be conducted via a public vote. Carnahan served as a Judiciary Committee member, during which the committee moved to pass a conflict-of-interest law requiring any official to report any interests in a bill before voting on it. As majority leader, Carnahan was able to help advance a bill banning racial discrimination in public areas; this bill was later signed into law by Governor Warren E. Hearnes. Carnahan also sponsored a bill to prevent employers from using discriminatory hiring practices.
In 1965, a federal court ruling that Missouri's districts suffered from malapportionment forced the state to redraw its legislative districts. Carnahan helped draw up a redistricting plan, but voters rejected it in a special election. He later clashed with Governor Hearnes over his reapportionment plan for state districts, as Carnahan favored a special session on the issue. In contrast, Hearnes's plan would let him pick the members of the reapportionment commission. Eventually, a compromise was reached, and Carnahan was the deciding vote in favor of its implementation.
In 1966, Carnahan ran in the 20th district for the state Senate. In the Democratic primary, he faced Gene Sally, a former state representative and state senator whom Governor Hearnes had implicitly supported. Carnahan defeated Sally in what his wife Jean later described as one of the hardest-fought campaigns he had run. Carnahan faced Republican state senator Don Owens in the general election. The 20th district was considered more Democratic-leaning but still competitive. In November, Owens defeated Carnahan by nearly 4,000 votes. Some press outlets considered the defeat to be unexpected. Carnahan later said of the defeat: "Strangely enough, I value the experience of losing. It does something to you, but it gives perspective."
After his defeat and after his term in the state house expired, Carnahan practiced law in Rolla. In 1971, he briefly expressed interest in a bid for Missouri's eighth congressional district. Ultimately, incumbent Richard Ichord, who defeated Carnahan's father in 1960 and was planning a gubernatorial bid, ran for re-election. In addition to practicing law, Carnahan also held a role in Rozark Farms Inc., a charcoal company his father founded, until 1975, when Carnahan sold his share of the company to his brother. During this time, Carnahan also became president of the Rolla school board; during his tenure on the board, he brought in a new superintendent and helped raise funds to build a new junior high school.
State treasurer
In 1979, Carnahan announced his return to politics by declaring his candidacy for Missouri state treasurer, which he also intended to use as a basis for a future gubernatorial run. He had briefly considered another bid for Missouri's eighth congressional district, which Richard Ichord was vacating. However, he had already declared his candidacy for the treasurer post when Ichord announced his retirement.In the Democratic primary, Carnahan faced state representative and former state House majority whip Ed Sweeney, who attacked Carnahan as indebted to banking interests. Carnahan criticized Sweeney for being hypocritical because Sweeney had solicited from banking interests himself, albeit unsuccessfully. Carnahan defeated Sweeney and faced former state senator Gerald Winship in the general election. Carnahan focused his campaign on continuing to build on the work of outgoing treasurer Jim Spainhower in giving funds in a nonpartisan manner and refrained from making personal attacks on his opponent, who ran a similar campaign. Carnahan won the election, returning him to elected office.
Carnahan served as treasurer from 1981 to 1985. During his tenure, Carnahan increased the number of banks that were performing state business, issuing policy changes to address the issue of the state favoring certain banks, and set up a committee to determine which banks would be selected to perform state business. He also enforced a policy to give state funds to banks that gave agriculture-related loans. Additionally, during his tenure, Carnahan allowed certain banks to receive state deposits, with special attention to newer banks and banks willing to support small businesses and minority owned businesses. While in office, Carnahan distributed a column to weekly newspapers called "It's Your Money," detailing activities undertaken by the treasurer's office.
In 1983, the Kansas City Times reported that Carnahan asked bankers and lawyers to go on a trip to China and the Soviet Union. The trip was sponsored by People to People International, which gave the head of the delegation a free trip. Missouri Common Cause director Ruth Bamberger said while Carnahan had not done anything illegal, the situation might make the treasurer's office appear more favorable toward bankers who participated. Carnahan said there was nothing inappropriate about the trip, noting that under rules he had issued as treasurer, he had no say in which banks received state deposits. The Times also reported that Carnahan had printed invitations on replicas of his official stationery; Carnahan said he printed the letters with his own funds.
In 1984, Carnahan ran for Governor of Missouri. Due to struggles with raising funds during his campaign, Carnahan walked over 300 miles from St. Louis to Kansas City, a move similar to what Governor Joseph Teasdale had done during his first campaign in 1972. Carnahan also campaigned in opposition to state referendums that would legalize parimutuel betting and would create a state lottery. However, he conceded he would enforce the amendments if the public supported them. Both amendments would pass with over 60% of the vote. Carnahan received the endorsements of former Governor Teasdale and the Missouri chapter of the National Organization for Women. In the August primary, Carnahan lost the Democratic nomination to Lieutenant Governor Kenneth Rothman, who lost the general election to state Attorney General John Ashcroft.