14 Facts About Henry Howell

Henry Howell earned a degree from Old Dominion College and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Virginia.

Henry Howell worked for the unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Francis Pickens Miller against John S Battle, the favored candidate of the Byrd Organization, the state's political machine, in the Democratic primary.

In 1952, Howell managed Miller's campaign against incumbent US Senator Harry F Byrd, the leader of the political machine, a campaign that Miller lost.

In 1959, during the Massive Resistance crisis, as the Byrd Organization closed Norfolk's schools until Governor J Lindsay Almond acceded to decisions of the Virginia Supreme Court and a three-judge federal panel mandating desegregation, Howell was elected as one of Norfolk's several representatives, along with Joshua Warren White and James W Roberts.

In 1969, Howell made his first run for governor by challenging former Ambassador William C Battle, son of former Governor John S Battle, for the nomination.

One analyst attributed Holton's victory not only to attracting liberal and African-American votes but because Henry Howell's backers had "bolted the party to nail the coffin shut" on the Byrd Organization.

Henry Howell received 362,371 votes, compared to 334,580 votes for Democrat George J Kostel and 209,861 votes for Republican George P Shafran.

In 1973, Henry Howell made his second run for governor, now as an Independent Democrat.

Henry Howell failed to get the backing of the Democratic establishment within Virginia.

Henry Howell was able to win in rural Appalachian Virginia and with African-American voters but failed due to lack of support in wealthy suburban areas.

Henry Howell later described the 1973 campaign as "the high point" of his life.

In 1977, Henry Howell made his final run for elective office, campaigning for governor as a Democrat.

Henry Howell offered the previously marginalized unprecedented recognition and respect in the state's transforming politics.

Henry Howell was much more progressive, less compromising, and more anti-Establishment than most of the so-called "New South" Democrats who emerged in the 1970s, such as Jimmy Carter, Reubin Askew, and Dale Bumpers.