1. John Burley Swainson was a Canadian-American politician and jurist who served as the 42nd governor of Michigan from 1961 to 1963.
19 Facts About John Swainson
1. 2.
John Swainson moved to Port Huron, Michigan, at the age of two, with his family.
3.
John Swainson was captain of his high school football team and an Eagle Scout.
4.
John Swainson served in the United States Army during World War II with C Company, 378th Infantry Regiment of the 95th Infantry Division and lost both legs by amputation following a landmine explosion November 15,1944, near Metz, Alsace-Lorraine.
5.
John Swainson was awarded France's Croix de Guerre, the Presidential Unit Citation with two battle stars, and the Purple Heart, all before his twentieth birthday.
6.
John Swainson accompanied him to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a JD degree in 1951.
7.
John Swainson was elected to the Michigan State Senate from the 18th District in 1954 and was reelected in 1956.
8.
In 1958, when Philip Hart was elected to the United States Senate, Swainson succeeded Hart as the lieutenant governor of Michigan under Governor G Mennen Williams.
9.
John Swainson did so despite being pressured by influential Democratic Party members, including Williams, not to run in deference to three-term Michigan Secretary of State, James M Hare.
10.
John Swainson won the primary against the party favorite, largely due to strong support from labor unions.
11.
On November 8,1960, Swainson narrowly defeated Republican Paul D Bagwell, a Michigan State University professor, in the 1960 Michigan gubernatorial election.
12.
John Swainson appointed the first African American to sit on the Michigan Supreme Court.
13.
In 1962, Swainson was defeated by Republican George W Romney, the chairman of the American Motors Corporation, who had never before held elected office.
14.
On June 23,1963, John Swainson accompanied the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
15.
John Swainson served as Michigan Circuit Court judge of the 3rd Circuit from 1965 to 1971 and as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 1971 to 1975.
16.
John Swainson was found not guilty but was convicted of perjury over his testimony to the grand jury.
17.
John Swainson later became an antiques dealer and became president of the Michigan Historical Commission.
18.
At the age of 68, John Swainson died of a heart attack in Manchester, Michigan, and he is interred there at Oak Grove Cemetery.
19.
At the dedication of his judicial portrait, John Swainson said he left the final judgement of his public career to history.