Samuel P. Goddard
(1965-1967)
Samuel Pearson Goddard is 6 feet 3 inches tall, with the military bearing and commanding presense of an Air Force colonel, which he is. He is an accomplished public speaker, a respected attorney and a leader in community affairs.
Goddard used those assets and a flair for political campaigning to win election as governor of Arizona in 1964. He served that capacity from 1965-1967. His first was elected chairman of the Arizona Democratic State Committee in 1960, and he still is a major power in state Democratic affairs. Goddard was born August 8, 1919, at Clayton, Missouri. He was a graduate from Harvard University in 1941, and soon thereafter enlisted in the Air Corps as a private for World War II services. He was commissioned by the Air Corps in 1942 and served as an operations and communications officer in England, Indian, North Africa, and the South Pacific. He remained active in the Air Force Reserve after World War II and rose to the rank of colonel. Goddard earned his law degree at the University of Arizona in 1949 and began practicing in Tucson. He became a community leader, helped organize the Tucson Civic Chorus and the Tucson Watercolor Guild, and took an active role in charitable fundraising. His community efforts earned him the coveted honor of Tucson Man of the Year 1959.
In 1961-62 he served as president of the 11 state Western Conference of United Funds. He became recognized as a rising power in Democratic politics in the state and in 1962 made an unsuccessful bid for the governorship. He ran for governor again in 1964, and this time won. Goddard' campaign symbol, the Arizona roadrunner, became familiar throughout the state, and it helped bolster his reputation as a man of energy who got things done.
Goff, John F. Arizona
Biographical Dictionary. Black Mountain Press. Cave Creek,
Arizona 1983.
p. 272
