28 Facts About Michael DiSalle

Michael Vincent DiSalle was the 60th governor of Ohio, serving from 1959 to 1963.

Michael DiSalle's family moved to Toledo, Ohio, when he was three years old.

Michael DiSalle graduated with a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University in 1931.

Michael DiSalle married Myrtle E England; the couple had four daughters and one son.

In 1936, Michael DiSalle was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives; he served one term and lost an election for the Ohio Senate in 1938.

Michael DiSalle was assistant law director from 1939 to 1941.

In 1946, DiSalle ran in the US House election in the Toledo-based 9th district, but he lost narrowly to the Republican incumbent, Homer A Ramey.

Michael DiSalle was elected as mayor of Toledo in 1947 and re-elected in 1949, and served from 1948 until his resignation on November 30,1950, to accept a federal appointment.

Michael DiSalle lost to then-state auditor Joseph T Ferguson, who in turn lost the general election to the Republican incumbent, Robert A Taft.

Michael DiSalle resigned as director on January 23,1952, in order to run again for US Senate.

Michael DiSalle won the Democratic nomination but lost the general election to the Republican incumbent, John W Bricker.

In 1956, DiSalle was the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, losing to then-state attorney general C William O'Neill.

The gubernatorial term had in 1954 been lengthened from two years to four years, starting with the 1958 election; so Michael DiSalle served as governor from 1959 to 1963.

In July 1959, Michael DiSalle signed a bill designating "with God, all things are possible" as the official motto of the State of Ohio.

Michael DiSalle was a favorite son candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 1960.

In 1962, Michael DiSalle lost re-election as governor to then-state auditor Jim Rhodes, after voters disapproved of several aspects of his administration, including his opposition to capital punishment, a tax increase, and a policy which billed wards of state for living necessities.

Michael DiSalle was an opponent of death penalty and commuted a number of sentences as governor.

Michael DiSalle allowed six of the 12 death sentences he reviewed as governor to proceed.

Michael DiSalle stated that despite being "totally opposed to the death penalty", he could not use his power of executive clemency without mitigating circumstances or evidence of miscarriage of justice.

Michael DiSalle personally investigated all cases of people scheduled to be executed by electric chair and even personally met with some of them.

Michael DiSalle agreed with Clinton Duffy, who said that murderers are more likely to be rehabilitated than other criminals.

Michael DiSalle recalled: "I found that the men in death row had one thing in common: they were penniless".

Michael DiSalle cited the case as an example of how the justice system had failed to study the behavior of a minor criminal to prevent him from committing murder.

Michael DiSalle is quoted in the book Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution as saying, "No one who has never watched the hands of a clock marking the last minutes of a condemned man's existence, knowing that he alone has the temporary Godlike power to stop the clock, can realize the agony of deciding an appeal for executive clemency".

Michael DiSalle led a draft movement for a potential 1968 presidential campaign by Sen.

Michael DiSalle served as the honorary chairman of Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign.

Michael DiSalle died on September 16,1981, of a heart attack while vacationing in Pescara, Italy.

Michael DiSalle has two current structures in Ohio named for him:.