Daniel J. Evans

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Daniel J. Evans
United States Senator from Washington
In office September 1, 1983 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson
Succeeded by	Slade Gorton
16th Governor of Washington
In office 1965 – 1977
Preceded by	Albert Rosellini
Succeeded by	Dixy Lee Ray
Born	October 16, 1925 (1925-10-16) (age 82) Seattle, Washington
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican

Daniel Jackson Evans (born October 16, 1925) served three terms as governor of the state of Washington from 1965 to 1977, and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1983 to 1989.^[1]

Evans was seriously considered for the Republican vice presidential nomination on the ticket with Gerald Ford in 1976 (but lost out to Bob Dole); Richard Nixon in 1968 had also hinted at a possible Evans nomination for the vice presidency. At the 1968 Republican National Convention (where he gave the keynote address) Evans refused to endorse Nixon for the presidential nomination, remaining a supporter of the doomed candidacy of Nelson Rockefeller.^[2]

[edit] Early Life

Evans was born in Seattle, Washington (where he lives as of 2007),^[1] descended from a family that had first arrived in the Washington Territory in 1859; his grandfather had served in one of Washington's first state senates. He grew up in the Laurelhurst neighborhood and attended Roosevelt High School.^[3]

As a young man, Evans was an Eagle Scout^[4], and served as a staff member at Camp Parsons, a well known Boy Scout camp in Washington State.^{[citation needed]}. As an adult, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

After high school, he served in the United States Navy 1943–1946.^[1] He first entered the V-12 Navy College Training Program and was stationed at the University of Washington (UW), but was transferred eight months later to an ROTC program at University of California, Berkeley. He did not see combat; he was deployed to the Pacific shortly after the end of World War II as a commissioned ensign on a succession of aircraft carriers, before retuturning to UW in 1946.^[3]

Evans graduated from the UW with degrees in civil engineering (BS, 1948, MS, 1949);^[1][3] the UW later (in 2007) gave him the distinction of Alumnus Summa Laude Dignitatus, the highest distinction the university confers on its graduates.^[3] He returned to the United States Navy 1951–1953^[1] before working as a structural engineer^[1][3] (1953–1956); in the latter capacity, he helped draw up the plans for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.^[3]

[edit] Political career

Having attended Toastmasters to improve his initially abysmal public speaking style,^[2] Evans served in the Washington State House of Representatives from 1956 to 1965 before being elected governor.^[1]

Despite being a Republican and a self-styled conservative, Evans became known for his administration's liberal policies on environmental protection (he founded the country's first state-level Department of Ecology, which became Nixon's blueprint for the federal EPA) and strong support of the state's higher education system, including founding Washington's system of community colleges. He fought unsuccessfully for a state income tax.^[4]

Evans served as governor from 1965 through 1977,^[1] still the only governor to serve three consecutive terms in Washington state history. A 1981 University of Michigan study named him one of the ten outstanding American governors of the 20th century.^[4] He declined to run for a fourth term.^{[citation needed]}

In 1972, a young man named Ted Bundy joined Evans' campaign and formed a professional relationship with the Governor, one close enough that Evans wrote and signed a letter to the University of Utah recommending that Bundy be accepted into its law school.^[5] Years later, Bundy would be tried, convicted and executed for a brutal series of murders.

From 1977 to 1983 Evans served as the second president of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington,^[1] which Evans had created in 1967 by signing a legislative act authorizing the formation of the college. The largest building on the Evergreen campus is named the Daniel J. Evans Library in his honor.^{[citation needed]} In 1983, Governor John Spellman appointed Evans to the United States Senate to fill a seat left vacant by the death of longtime senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson. Evans won a special election later that year against Mike Lowry and filled the remainder of Jackson's unexpired term, retiring from politics after the 1988 elections.^[1] He was not happy as a U.S. Senator; he wrote an April 1988 piece in the New York Times Magazine, "Why I'm Quitting the Senate", in which he complained of "bickering and protracted paralysis".^[4]

[edit] Later life

After leaving the Senate in 1989, Evans founded his own consulting firm, Daniel J. Evans Associates.^[1] Governor Mike Lowry appointed him to the Board of Regents of the University of Washington in 1993; Evans served as the board's president from 1996 to 1997,^[1] and in 1999 the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs at the University was named for him.

[edit] Elections

The following are the vote tallies from Evans' statewide elections:^{[citation needed]}

The following are the results of his State Legislative races for the office of 43^rd District representative:^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Eric McHenry, "Engineer of Change", Columns (the University of Washington alumni magazine), June 2007, p.22–26.

[edit] External links

• Congressional Biography
• The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs

v • d • e Governors of Washington Ferry • McGraw • Rogers • McBride • Mead • Cosgrove • Hay • Lister • Hart • Hartley • Martin • Langlie • Wallgren • Langlie • Rosellini • Evans • Ray • Spellman • Gardner • Lowry • Locke • Gregoire

v • d • e United States Senators from Washington Class 1: Allen • Wilson • Foster • Piles • Poindexter • Dill • Schwellenbach • Wallgren • Mitchell • Cain • Jackson • Evans • Gorton • Cantwell Class 3: Squire • Turner • Ankeny • Jones • Grammer • Bone • Magnuson • Gorton • Adams • Murray