Daniel I.J. Thornton, Governor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_I.J._Thornton

Daniel Isaac J. Thornton (January 31, 1911, to January 19, 1976) was a United States cattle breeder and Republican politician who served as the 33rd Governor of the State of Colorado from 1951 to 1955.

Daniel Isaac J. Thornton was born in Hall County, Texas, on January 31, 1911. Thornton graduated from Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) in Lubbock and the University of California at Los Angeles. He was married to the former Jessie Willock. In 1937, the Thorntons purchased a cattle ranch near Springerville in northeastern Arizona. In 1941, they moved their operation to a ranch in Gunnison County in southern Colorado. The Thorntons developed the Thornton Triumphant, a strain of Hereford cattle. In 1948, Thornton was elected to the Colorado State Senate, a position that he held for only two years before becoming governor.

In 1950, Thornton defeated incumbent Democratic Governor Walter Walford Johnson. Thornton was known for his Stetson hat, pipe, and cowboy boots. He served as governor for two then two-year terms. In 1952 he was one of five people on the short list for consideration of the Republican vice presidential nomination. Dwight D. Eisenhower, like Thornton Texas-born, instead chose Richard Nixon, a freshman U.S. senator from California. (Richard Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician. Roger Morris. Pg. 726)

In 1956, Thornton was under discussion for a cabinet appointment. He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Colorado that year, but was narrowly defeated by the Democrat John A. Carroll.

Dan Thornton died of a heart attack in Carmel, California, on January 19, 1976.

Governor Thornton is the namesake of the City of Thornton outside Denver, Colorado. In 2008, he was listed among the "100 Most Influential People" from Lubbock, as part of the city centennial observation.