Thomas Bahnson Stanley

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Thomas Bahnson Stanley (18901970) was an American politician. He served as the Governor of Virginia from 1954 to 1958. Before becoming governor, Stanley was the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and a U.S. Representative in Congress. As governor, he improved the administration of state hospitals and increased funding to mental hospitals and public schools.

Stanley's term as governor also experienced significant governmental conflicts. The budget fight between the Old Guard and the Young Turks over budget surpluses in the 1954 legislative session colored relations in the Democratic Party for a generation. Brown v. Board of Education was decided during his term, and his initial efforts to move slowly to integration were abruptly terminated by US Senator Harry Byrd, Sr., and his anti-integration Massive Resistance campaign.

Thomas Stanley founded the leading Virginia furniture maker Stanley Furniture in 1924 in what would become Stanleytown, Virginia.

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Preceded by:
John S. Battle
Governor of Virginia
1954–1958
Succeeded by:
James Lindsay Almond, Jr.