J. Millard Tawes - Governor of Maryland

Governor of Maryland

In 1958, polling among Marylanders showed that Tawes was quite popular. This led Tawes to announce, for the second time, his candidacy for governor. He faced minor opposition in the primary, and defeated Republican James Devereux, a Congressman and veteran of World War II, by approximately 200,000 votes in the general election. On January 14, 1959, he was sworn in for his first term.

The beginning of Tawes' term as Governor was benefited by the overwhelming Democratic majority present in both houses of the Maryland General Assembly. Seeking to improve the state's economy following a recession in 1958, Tawes established extensive departments and agencies that primarily regulated and assisted agriculture, industry, and the economy in general. He also established organizations to deal with the elderly, insurance, savings and loans, and justice. Seeking to improve the highway system, Tawes create the State Roads Commission that added over a thousand miles of major roads and highways to the state. Concerning environmental matters, Tawes established programs to help the oyster population within the Chesapeake Bay, established several island nature reserves, and doubled the size of the state park system. He also worked towards reducing water pollution and saving forests from destruction. Tawes also sought to phase out slot machines in Maryland, which was completed after he left office in 1968.

Regarding education, the state of Maryland saw significant strides in areas including the expansion of the University System of Maryland, the establishment of public educational television channels, and the creation of state agencies encouraging educational loans. Tawes would later remark that the educational strides under his administration should be regarded as the greatest accomplishment.

One of the major constitutional concerns during the Tawes Administration came from the reapportionment of districts within the state. When Maryland was granted an extra Congressional seat following the 1960 census, years of unsuccessful attempts to redraw the state districts resulted in a federal jury of three judges redrawing the boundaries in 1966. Regarding the General Assembly districts, Tawes oversaw the shift of power from the rural areas to the urban. Ever since the American Revolution, representation in the General Assembly was divided evenly for all counties, which meant the more numerous rural counties dominated politically. Following the series of "one man, one vote" decrees by the Supreme Court of the United States, a lower court in Maryland ruled the General Assembly districts unconstitutional. Tawes, a rural county politician himself, called the General Assembly into special session to redraw the districts, resulting in a substantial gain in representation in the State Senate and House of Delegates for the urban areas of the state for the first time.

In the election of 1962, Tawes faced substantial competition in the primary from David Hume, a critic of Tawes' conservation policies, and businessman George P. Mahoney. While both Hume and Mahoney polled impressively, Tawes managed to retain the Democratic nomination. His challenger in the general election, Congressman Frank Small, Jr., was defeated by Tawes by a margin of 78,000 votes, primarily due to a poorly managed campaign by Small. Tawes' second administration began on January 9, 1963.

The Civil Rights Movement in the United States took place during the Tawes Administration. While Tawes was publicly neither strongly for or against discrimination, Maryland became the first state to enact of public accommodations laws under his administration, and he also directed the state government and its contractors to conduct anti-discriminatory hiring practices.

Many of the themes Tawes began in his first term were continued in his second, including educational reform. The allocation of state aid to educational institutions was recalculated by the legislature during his second term, resulting in increased funds being directed towards the most needy districts. Tawes also managed to establish an educational television network, which he had been campaigning for since his first term.

While Tawes had always maintained a platform of fiscal conservatism, spending by the state government doubled under his administration from approximately $448 million to over $1 billion. His final years in office involved the initiation of the review of the Maryland Constitution of 1867, and the establishment of commissions to remove areas of waste within the government. Both of these measures would not come to fruition until after he left office. Tawes's tenure as governor came to a close on January 25, 1967.