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C A Bottolfsen

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Nationality
  
United States

Party
  
Republican Party

Role
  
Former Governor of Idaho


Name
  
C. Bottolfsen

Political party
  
Republican

Lieutenant
  
Donald Whitehead (1939–41) Edwin Nelson (1943–45)

Preceded by
  
Barzilla Clark (1939) Chase Clark (1943)

Succeeded by
  
Chase Clark (1941) Charles Gossett (1945)

Full Name
  
Clarence Alfred Bottolfsen

Born
  
October 10, 1891 Superior, Wisconsin (
1891-10-10
)

Resting place
  
Hillcrest Cemetery Arco, Idaho

Died
  
July 19, 1964, Boise, Idaho, United States

Residence
  
Arco, Idaho, United States

Previous offices
  
Governor of Idaho (1943–1945), Governor of Idaho (1939–1941)

Service/branch
  
United States Army

Clarence Alfred Bottolfsen (October 10, 1891 – July 18, 1964) was a politician from Idaho, a member of the Idaho Republican Party. He served as the 17th and 19th Governor of Idaho, from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1943 to 1945.

Contents

Early years

Born in Superior, Wisconsin, Bottolfsen moved with his family to Fessenden, North Dakota, in 1902 where he was educated in the public schools. While in high school, he worked as a printer's devil (an apprentice or errand boy) in a local printing shop. In 1910, the owner of the shop moved to Arco, Idaho, purchased the Arco Advertiser, and sent for Bottolfsen, then nineteen, to manage it. He purchased the paper and continued to be the publisher in Arco until 1949. He married Elizabeth Hanna on August 27, 1912.

Career

Bottolfsen entered the U.S. Army on June 27, 1918 and served until four months after the Armistice and was discharged in March 1919. After the War, he took a leading part in the organization of the American Legion and served as State Commander in 1934.

Bottolfsen served in the state legislature in the house, and was elected speaker in 1931. He also chaired the Idaho Republican Party from 1937 to 1938. He is one of only two people in Idaho history to serve non-consecutive terms as governor (Cecil Andrus is the other).

Early in his first term in 1939, he signed the bill creating the Idaho State Police.

Bottolfsen ran for United States Senate in 1944 but was defeated by Glen H. Taylor. In his later years he served as chief clerk of the Idaho House of Representatives and on the staff of United States Senator Herman Welker. Bottolfsen was elected to the Idaho State Senate in 1958 and 1960, but declined to seek reelection in 1962 due to poor health.

Death and legacy

Bottolfsen was an active Freemason within the Grand Lodge of Idaho, serving as master of Arco Lodge No. 48. He was also active with the El Korah Shrine in Boise, the Rotary Club and the Arco Chamber of Commerce.

Bottolfsen died at age 72 in Boise from complications from emphysema, which he suffered from in his final years. Bottolfsen Park in Arco is named after him. The papers of C.A. Bottolfsen are contained within the University of Idaho Library in Moscow, and he and his wife are interred at Hillcrest Cemetery in Arco.

References

C. A. Bottolfsen Wikipedia