Lieutenant George Nigh Succeeded by David L. Boren Party Republican Party Preceded by Henry Bellmon Name Dewey Bartlett | Succeeded by David Hall Spouse Ann Bartlett Battles and wars World War II Preceded by Fred Roy Harris Education Princeton University | |
Full Name Dewey Follett Bartlett Born March 28, 1919
Marietta, Ohio ( 1919-03-28 ) Resting place Calvary Cemetery
36°01′46.3″N 95°56′04.4″W / 36.029528°N 95.934556°W / 36.029528; -95.934556 (Dewey F. Bartlett Burial Site) Role Former Governor of Oklahoma Died March 1, 1979, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States | ||
Previous office Senator (OK) 1973–1979 | ||
Diversity Dialogue with Mayor Bartlett
Dewey Follett Bartlett Sr. (March 28, 1919 – March 1, 1979) was an American politician who served as the 19th Governor of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1971, following his same-party Republican predecessor, Henry Bellmon. In 1966, he became the first Roman Catholic elected governor of Oklahoma, defeating the Democratic nominee, Preston Moore of Oklahoma City. He was defeated for reelection in 1970 by Tulsa attorney David Hall in the closest election in state history. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1972 and served one term. In 1978, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and did not run for reelection that year. He died of the disease in 1979.
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Early life
Dewey Follett Bartlett was born to David A. and Jessie Bartlett in Marietta, Ohio, and attended schools in Marietta and Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Following his graduation from Princeton University with a degree in geological engineering in 1942, he served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. After the war, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and held various jobs in farming, ranching, and the oil industry, inheriting ownership of the Tulsa-based Keener Oil and Gas Company from his father, David A. Bartlett.
Political career
Prior to becoming governor, he served in the Oklahoma Senate from 1962 to 1966.
As governor, Bartlett made major changes to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, pushed for school consolidation, and vetoed a school code bill. In 1970, he was the first Oklahoma governor eligible to seek a second term. In the general election, he was challenged by then-Tulsa County Attorney David Hall. In the closest gubernatorial election in state history, Hall unseated Bartlett by a vote of 338,338 to 336,157.
Following his defeat, he served for one term in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 1979 after winning the seat previously held by Democrat Fred R. Harris. He narrowly defeated U.S. Congressman Ed Edmondson in the 1972 election riding on President Richard Nixon's coattails. During his tenure in Congress, he took a conservative stance on most issues and championed oil and gas interests during the energy crisis of the 1970s. However, he suffered health problems and, rather than face a very difficult reelection against popular Democratic Governor David Boren, decided not to seek reelection. Two months after retiring from the U.S. Senate, he died in Tulsa from complications of lung cancer, and is buried in the city's Calvary Cemetery. In 1990 he was inducted into the Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame and in March, 2006, Congress passed a bill renaming the U.S. Post Office in Tulsa in his honor.
Family
Bartlett married Ann Smith, a native of Seattle, Washington on April 2, 1945 at Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, California. They had three children: Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr., Michael and Joanie.
His son, Dewey F. Bartlett, Jr. has served as the mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, from 2009 until losing reelection to G. T. Bynum in 2016., as a former member of the Tulsa City Council from 1990 to 1994, and has inherited the Keener Oil and Gas Company from his father.