Cliff Finch

Charles Clifton " Cliff" Finch ( born April 4, 1927 in Pope, Panola County, Mississippi, † April 22, 1986 in Batesville, Mississippi ) was an American politician and 1976-1980 Governor of the State of Mississippi.

Early years and political rise

After primary school, Finch fought at the end of the Second World War in Italy. He then spent a year with a construction company on Guam. After his return to Mississippi, he studied until 1958 at the University of Mississippi law. He then worked as an attorney in Batesville.

Finch was a member of the Democratic Party and from 1960 to 1964 deputy in the House of Representatives from Mississippi. Between 1964 and 1972 he was district attorney in the 17th Judicial District. In 1971 he applied unsuccessfully for the office of lieutenant governor. In 1975, he was after an impressive campaign in which he united black and white workers to a coalition, elected as the new governor of his state.

Governor of Mississippi

Cliff Finch began his four-year term on 20 January 1976. He succeeded at that time to rescue the ailing financial institutions of the state and thus to avoid a financial crisis. Within the party, he succeeded in reconciliation of two feuding wings of the party. After a flood in 1979, the victims were helped with financial subsidies.

Further CV

At the end of his tenure, Charles Finch tried as a federal politician. Already in 1978, was his attempt to be elected to the U.S. Senate failed. In 1980, he applied for his party's nomination for the presidential election. Given the fact that the incumbent President Jimmy Carter ran again, Finch's chances of nomination were hopeless. Ronald Reagan was elected president against Carter at the end. Finch was excreted after nine unsuccessful primaries of the election campaign. After that he worked as a lawyer again. He died in 1986 in Batesville from a heart attack.