John Swainson

John Swainson

John Burley Swainson (July 31, 1925 – May 13, 1994) was a politician from the US state of Michigan, as well as the 42nd Governor of Michigan.

Swainson was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and moved to Port Huron, Michigan at the age of two with his family.

His father, John A. C. Swainson, of Port Huron was Democratic Presidential Elector for Michigan in 1964 and an alternate delegate to Democratic National Convention from Michigan in 1972.

He was captain of his high school football team and an Eagle Scout.

Swainson served in the United States Army during World War II with the 95th Infantry Division and lost both legs by amputation following a land mine explosion November 15, 1944, near Metz, Alsace-Lorraine. He was awarded France's Croix de Guerre, the Presidential Unit Citation with two battle stars, and the Purple Heart, all before his nineteenth birthday. After months of convalescence and rehabilitation at the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Swainson learned to walk upright and unassisted.

Swainson received a B.A. from Olivet College, where he also met and married his wife, Alice Nielson. She accompanied him to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a law degree in 1951. While there, he was elected student president of the law school.