Milward Simpson

Milward Simpson
Simpson c. 1955
United States Senator from Wyoming
In office November 6, 1962 – January 3, 1967
Preceded by	John J. Hickey
Succeeded by	Clifford Hansen
23rd Governor of Wyoming
In office January 3, 1955 – January 5, 1959
Preceded by	Clifford Joy Rogers
Succeeded by	John J. Hickey
Member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
In office 1926–1927
Personal details
Born	Milward Lee Simpson (1897-11-12)November 12, 1897 Jackson, Wyoming, U.S.
Died	June 11, 1993(1993-06-11) (aged 95) Cody, Wyoming, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Lorna Kooi Simpson
Children	Pete Simpson Alan K. Simpson
Alma mater	University of Wyoming Harvard Law School
Profession	Attorney; businessman
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Battles/wars	World War I

Milward Lee Simpson (November 12, 1897 – June 11, 1993) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator and as the 23rd Governor of Wyoming, the first born in the state. In 1985, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.^[1]

Simpson was born in Jackson, Teton County, Wyoming, the son of Margaret Louise Burnett (maiden; 1874–1974) and W.L. "Billy" Simpson (né William Lee Simpson; 1868–1940).^[2] He attended public schools in Meeteetse and Cody. He graduated from Cody High School in 1916.^[3] In June 1917, at age 19, Simpson graduated from the Tome School for Boys in Port Deposit, Maryland.^[4] As one of fifteen graduates, he was awarded Best All-Round Athlete for his outstanding performance on the school's football, basketball, and baseball teams. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was the Commencement Speaker.^[5]

During World War I, Simpson served as a second lieutenant in the infantry, United States Army.^[2]

After the war, he attended the University of Wyoming, and in 1921, earned an AB degree.^[4] While a student at UW, he was both an athlete and a member of the university's debate team. Simpson was in the same class as W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993),^[6][7] credited for, among other things, launching the Total Quality Management movement. He was also in the same fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, as Glenn Parker (1898–1989),^[6][7] whom he appointed to the Wyoming Supreme Court when he became Governor in 1955.

From 1921 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1925, he attended Harvard Law School, but did not graduate.^[8]

In 1924, while studying at Harvard, Simpson took over his father's law practice.^[2] He was admitted to the Wyoming Bar Association in 1926^[9] and practiced law in Cody until 1955 when he became governor of Wyoming.

Death

He died on June 11, 1993 at a nursing home in Cody, Wyoming from Parkinson's disease at the age of 95. He was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cody, Wyoming.^[10][11][12]

Simpson served as a Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives for one two-year term, from 1926 to 1927. He was a member of the board of trustees of the University of Wyoming in 1939 and president of the board from 1943 to 1954. He was a member of the National Association of Governing Boards of State Universities and Allied Institutions and served as president of the body from 1952 to 1953.

Milward Simpson ran for the U.S. Senate against Joseph C. O'Mahoney in 1940, but was defeated 58.7% to 41.3%. Simpson was narrowly elected governor in November 1954. He defeated the Democrat William Jack, 56,275 (50.5 percent) to 55,163 (49.5 percent). Simpson was unseated after a single term in 1958, a heavily Democratic year nationally, after a single term in office by John J. Hickey of Rawlins in Carbon County, 55,070 (48.9 percent) to 52,488 (46.6 percent). He resumed his law practice in 1959.

Simpson won a special election on November 6, 1962, to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Republican Senator-elect Edwin Keith Thomson in the term ending January 3, 1967;^[13] he was not a candidate for Senate reelection in 1966 but was succeeded by outgoing Governor Clifford Hansen of Jackson. Simpson lived in Cody until his death in 1993 at the age of 95.

As governor, Simpson advocated for, and signed into law the Wyoming Civil Rights Act of 1957, a measure aimed at abolishing racial segregation in the state.^[14][15] However, as a U.S. Senator, Simpson was one of six Republicans – the others being Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Norris Cotton of New Hampshire, Bourke B. Hickenlooper of Iowa, Edwin Mechem of New Mexico, and John Tower of Texas – who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.^[16] Simpson voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.^[17]

Simpson played football, basketball, and baseball for the University of Wyoming in 1917, 1919–1920, and 1920–1921.^[18] He has been chronicled as the first to simultaneously serve as captain of three intercollegiate sports at the University.^[19][20] In 1996, Simpson was inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame.^[18]

Around 1921 and 1924, Simpson played semi-professional baseball in Red Lodge, Montana, and Cody.^[21] One of his teammates was the subsequent Lieutenant Governor and Education Superintendent Bill Dodd of Louisiana. They became close friends.

Sports Illustrated ranks Simpson, as a multisport star, Wyoming's 28th Greatest Sports Figure of the 20th Century.^[22]

Simpson – on June 29, 1929, in Sheridan – married Lorna Helen Kooi (1900–1995). They had two sons, both of whom have the middle name "Kooi." The younger son, Alan K. Simpson, served in the Wyoming House from Park County from 1965 to 1977 and in the United States Senate as a Republican from 1979 to 1997. Alan Simpson was the Senate Republican Whip during the early 1990s. An older son, Peter K. Simpson, is a retired historian and administrator at the University of Wyoming, who served in the state House from 1981 to 1984 from Sheridan County, where he was then residing while serving as an administrator at Sheridan College. Milward Simpson's grandson (by way of Alan Simpson), Colin M. Simpson, is a former member of the Wyoming House from Cody, who lost a Republican primary for governor in 2010 to Matt Mead of Jackson, a grandson of Clifford Hansen.

• Milward L. Simpson papers at the American Heritage Center
• United States Congress. "Milward Simpson (id: S000434)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Milward Simpson at Find a Grave