Governor
He served as the Governor of Missouri between 1941 and 1945.
Donnell was the first Republican governor after the collapse of the Thomas Pendergast political machine and the only major Republican elected statewide in the 1940 election and Democrats were to delay seating him for six weeks until being forced to do so by the Missouri Supreme Court in what would be called the “Great Governorship Steal.”
Donnell had defeated St. Louis politician Lawrence “Larry” McDaniel by 3,613 votes out of nearly 2 million cast thanks largely to votes cast in rural areas.
Donnell’s predecessor Lloyd C. Stark had wrested control of federal appointments in the state from the Pendergast machine in 1936. Consequently there was unease with a Republican taking over the appointments.
Within hours of the election several members of the Democratic party met at the DeSoto Hotel in St. Louis to plot strategy. Among those attending were Senator Bennett Champ Clark, St. Louis Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann, Democratic Party Chairman Robert Hannegan, Attorney General Roy McKittrick and state Democratic Chairman C. Marion Hulen.
Their strategy was to charge that Republican votes were fraudulently bought and to use a provision of the Missouri Constitution that provided the Speaker of the House "would count – tabulate – the votes and proclaim to the general public who won".
Donnell was refused to be seated while the Speaker investigated the votes. Governor Stark urged that he be seated. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately seated him.
Donnell was a Mason and would be elected Grand Master of the Missouri chapter during his term as governor. Ironically, Democrat Harry S. Truman was to imply that Donnell helped Truman win the 1940 Senate election because of their Mason bond.
Truman said:
- I had a Catholic friend in St. Louis by the name of James E. Wade. He attended a meeting Davis made his usual charges. Forrest Donnell, who afterwards became Governor and Senator, was speaking from the same platform. Donnell was just behind me in the Grand Lodge line and would be Grand Master in a year or two.
- So Jim Wade went up to him . . . and asked him if I could be the low sort of fellow that Davis charged and still be Grand Master of Masons of Missouri. Mr. Donnell said: 'No, Jim, he could not.' That ruined Mr. Davis—I won by 276,000 votes."
Read more about this topic: Forrest C. Donnell
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