John Howard Pyle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Howard Pyle (March 25, 1906–November 29, 1987) was the 12th governor of the U.S. state of Arizona, serving from 1951 to 1955. He was a Republican.
Born in 1906 in Sheridan, Wyoming, Pyle was the first Arizona governor born in the 20th century and was the owner of KFAD (now KTAR) Radio in Phoenix. He also served as a war correspondent during World War II and covered the surrender ceremony of the Japanese. He defeated pioneering female politician Ana Frohmiller in his 1950 campaign for Governor. In 1953, he attempted to break up a polygamous fundamentalist Mormon compound in Colorado City, Arizona in what became known as the Short Creek Raid, which resulted in two-dozen men arrested and 200 children placed in foster homes. This move alienated many voters in the state after photographs of tearful children being forcibly removed from their distraught mothers appeared in the newspapers. Pyle subsequently lost his 1954 re-election bid.
Pyle died in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona and is buried in the Double Butte Cemetery in Tempe.
| Preceded by Dan Edward Garvey |
Governor of Arizona 1951–1955 |
Succeeded by Ernest W. McFarland |
| Governors of Arizona |  |
|---|---|
| Hunt • Campbell • Hunt • Campbell • Hunt • Phillips • Hunt • Moeur • Stanford • Jones • Osborn • Garvey • Pyle • McFarland • Fannin • Goddard • Williams • Castro • Bolin • Babbitt • Mecham • Mofford • Symington • Hull • Napolitano |
 |
This article about an Arizona politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
