10 Facts About William Dougherty

William Dougherty was an American businessman, lobbyist, and Democratic politician who was the 31st Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota from 1971 to 1975.

In 1968, Dougherty managed New York Senator Robert F Kennedy's South Dakota campaign for the Democratic nomination for the presidency; with Dougherty at the helm, Kennedy won the South Dakota primary on the same day he won the California primary.

However, Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles, California that night; William Dougherty had spoken to him on the telephone twice shortly before the assassination.

Also in 1968, William Dougherty managed freshman Democratic Senator George McGovern's successful re-election campaign.

Four years later, William Dougherty held a major post in McGovern's unsuccessful campaign for the presidency.

The breakdown of South Dakota's insularity through television and travel was leading in that direction, William Dougherty argued; he said his own attitudes on race were greatly altered by travel with Bobby Kennedy to the ghettos of the great cities and subsequently by the nine-hour ride on Bobby's funeral train from New York to Washington, watching impoverished blacks and others who lined the train platforms in 100-degree to honor their fallen hero.

William Dougherty served as a member of the Democratic National Committee; when he first joined the committee, he was, at the age of 36, its youngest member.

In 1974, William Dougherty unsuccessfully challenged Kneip for the Democratic nomination for governor, and then retired from public office.

William Dougherty was succeeded as lieutenant governor by Harvey L Wollman in 1975.

William Dougherty was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in September 2009.