Governors' divorcing dates back to 1800s

When Gov. Jim Gibbons filed for divorce, it made national news. After all, how often does a governor get divorced?

While it's never happened before in Nevada, it's apparently more common than one would think. When that question was posed to state historians and archivists around the country, more than half the states where the information was available at press time reported at least one divorce by a sitting governor in their history.

In fact, governors in 14 of the 24 states reporting have had at least one gubernatorial divorce " not counting Nevada. One other state reported a separation that ended in divorce after the governor left office.

Neither major party has an exclusive on those divorces And they aren't just a recent phenomenon. The earliest reported was Brigham Young when he was Utah's territorial governor in 1851.

The Utah State Archives lists no divorces among Utah's appointed or elected governors. But according to Jeffrey Johnson of the LDS Church Library, 12 of Young's more than 50 marriages ended in divorce, seven occurring from 1850 to 1858 when he was territorial governor.

Johnson said, however, they weren't divorces in the sense of modern day civil divorces because the marriages were granted through the church, not the federal government.

These marriages were really "sealings," which is a religious rite relating to the afterlife, as well as, this life, Johnson wrote in response to the question. "So the divorces were really 'cancellation of sealings.'"

Young wasn't alone among pioneer governors. According to Arizona's director of History and Archives Melanie Sturgeon, Anson Safford had a messy break-up with his wife, Jennie, who claimed he was unfaithful and infected with a venereal disease that caused the death of their son. Safford got the territorial legislature to pass an Act of Divorcement ending their marriage in 1873. Sturgeon said the divorce didn't seem to hurt his popularity.

And Fayette McMullin reportedly took the appointment as territorial governor of Washington state in 1858 in order to get a legislative divorce. He resigned shortly thereafter and returned to Virginia.

The list includes arguably three of the highest profile governors in U.S. history: Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York from 1959-1973 and later vice president; Adlai Stevenson, Illinois governor 1948-1952 and twice the Democratic nominee for President; and George Wallace, who served four terms as Alabama governor between 1962 and 1986 and was a presidential candidate. Neither suffered any repercussions from the voters who returned both to office.

Rockefeller's divorce from Mary Todhunter Clark in 1962 will be well remembered by longtime Nevadans, since she waited out the six-week residency requirement at one of the Reno area's dude ranches. He married Margaretta Fitler Murphy, better known as Happy, less than a year later.

Stevenson's wife of more than 20 years, Ellen, divorced him in 1949. It apparently had no impact on his political career since the Democratic party made him their nominee against Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956.

According to Ed Bridges of Alabama's archives department, Wallace and his second wife Cornelia divorced in 1978 at the end of his third term. His first wife Lurleen died a decade earlier.

In the modern era, John Carlin of Kansas had the most unstable marital status while in office. He divorced his first wife, Ramona, during his first term (1980) and his second, Karen, during his second (1985).

Three states reported more than one governor going through a divorce while in office. In Maryland, Marvin Mandel divorced his wife, Barbara, in 1974 during his second term. Parris Glendening, who left office in 2003, divorced his second wife, Francis, in 2002 and married his deputy chief of staff who was more than 20 years his junior and pregnant at the time, according to Maryland state Archivist Ed Papenfuse.

Oregon has also had two governors divorce while in office. Jay Bowerman divorced his wife, Elizabeth, while governor in 1910-1911 after his affair with a secretary was revealed. Neil Goldschmidt, who served from 1987-1991, divorced his wife, Margaret, in 1990.

And Mississippi citizens watched as two consecutive office holders, Kirk Fordice in 1999 and Ronnie Musgrove in 2001, divorced.

Fordice, according to Wikipedia, was divorced from his longtime wife, Pat, following an extramarital affair. Musgrove divorced his longtime wife, Melanie, in 1977.

Gaston Caperton, governor of West Virginia from 1989-1997, was reportedly embarrassed when his wife, Dee, divorced him during his first term in office. It didn't stop him from winning a second term. He remarried but later divorced his second wife, Rachael.

Ben Cayetano of Hawaii divorced his wife, Lorraine, in 1996 but it didn't end his career as voters returned him to the office in 1999. He remarried in his second term.

In Louisiana, Buddy Roemer served from 1987-1990. He and wife, Patti, divorced in 1989 " the same year Edwin Edwards, who both preceded and followed Roemer, divorced his wife, Elaine. But he wasn't in the office at the time.

Michigan's James Blanchard divorced his wife, Paula, while governor from 1983-1991.

Finally, Bill Owens, Colorado governor from 1999-2007, separated from his wife, Frances, in 2005. The couple remained married, however, until after he left office.

Historical records keepers in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Missouri, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont all reported no divorces by any of their sitting governors. Information from other states wasn't available at press time.

Gibbons is also one of just Nevada three governors who was divorced before his election to the position. The others were Charles Clark Stevenson, who served from 1887-1890 and Tasker Oddie, who served from 1911-1915. Both Gibbons and Stevenson were remarried by the time they took office. Oddie remarried but not until after he left the governor's mansion.

Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.