Cliff Finch
Cliff Finch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 57th Governor of Mississippi | |
| In office January 20, 1976 – January 22, 1980 | |
| Lieutenant | Evelyn Gandy |
| Preceded by | Bill Waller |
| Succeeded by | William Winter |
| Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from Panola County | |
| In office 1960 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Clifton Finch April 4, 1927 Pope, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | April 22, 1986 (aged 59) Batesville, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Resting place | Magnolia Cemetery Batesville, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Zelma Lois Smith |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi University of Mississippi School of Law |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Battles/wars | Italian Campaign of World War II |
Charles Clifton Finch (April 4, 1927 – April 22, 1986) was an American politician who served as the 57th Governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi, from 1976 to 1980.
Life and career[]
Finch was born in the village of Pope in Panola County, northern Mississippi, the son of Ruth Christine (McMinn) and Carl Bedford Finch.[1] At the age of 18, he enlisted in World War II and was sent into the Italian Campaign as part of the 88th Infantry Division. After the war, Finch worked in construction on the Pacific island of Guam. He then attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford. In 1958, he graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
Finch entered politics in 1960 and was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House of Representatives. In 1964 and again in 1968, he was elected district attorney for the Seventeenth Judicial District. In 1971, he was an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor.
Finch was the unexpected victor in two rounds of Democratic primaries leading up to the 1975 gubernatorial election.[2] He forged a coalition of African American and working-class white voters in a populist-style gubernatorial campaign. To show his concern for working people, he sacked groceries, drove bulldozers, and performed other menial jobs. Finch adopted the campaign slogan "The working man's friend", with those letters featured on a black lunch box in drawings and placards.
Finch was elected over the Republican nominee , a businessman from Meridian, and the African American independent candidate .[2] The election was close, with Finch winning with just slightly more than half the vote.[2] In the same election, Evelyn Gandy won the lieutenant governorship, and Democrats retained control of the state legislature.[2] Carmichael drew 45 percent of the vote, an exceptionally high figure for a statewide Republican candidate at that time.
As governor, Finch helped save Mississippi's savings and loan industry from collapse, and provided flood relief after the 1979 Easter flood.
While still governor, Finch ran for the United States Senate in 1978, but he was defeated in the Democratic party primary by , who then lost in the general election to the Republican U.S. Representative Thad Cochran.
After leaving office, Finch ran in 1980 against U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He received 48,032 votes (0.3 percent of the Democratic primary vote total) in nine primaries. After the campaign, Finch resumed practicing law.
Finch died on April 22, 1986, in Batesville in Panola County, Mississippi, from a massive heart attack.[3]
References[]
- ^ Sumners, Cecil L. (1998). The Governors of Mississippi. Pelican Publishing. ISBN 9781455605217.
- ^ a b c d Leubsdorf, Carl (November 5, 1975). "Photo finish in Mississippi". The Journal News. White Plains, New York. AP. p. 5. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Cliff Finch, ex-governor of Mississippi, dies". google news. The Vindicator. AP. April 23, 1986. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
External links[]
- 1927 births
- 1986 deaths
- Candidates in the 1980 United States presidential election
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American politicians
- United States Army personnel of World War II
- Democratic Party state governors of the United States
- District attorneys in Mississippi
- Governors of Mississippi
- Members of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Mississippi Democrats
- Military personnel from Mississippi
- People from Batesville, Mississippi
- United States Army soldiers
- University of Mississippi alumni
- University of Mississippi School of Law alumni
- Candidates in the 1978 United States elections