Gaston Caperton

William Gaston Caperton III ( born February 21, 1940 in Charleston, West Virginia ) is a retired American politician. He was from 1989 to 1997 31 governor of the state of West Virginia.

Early years

Gaston Caperton attended the Episcopal High School in Alexandria and the University of North Carolina. After his return to West Virginia, he joined the family-owned insurance company. He soon took over the management of the company, which then climbed up to tenth of all U.S. insurance companies. Caperton rose in the face of his success also in the banking business. Politically, he has not entered into appearance until 1988. This year, he was elected as a candidate of the Democratic Party as the new governor of West Virginia.

Governor of West Virginia

Caperton's tenure as governor began on 16 January 1989. According to a re-election in 1992, he was able to complete two four -year terms. He saw his main task in the reduction of public debt. To this end, the taxes were increased and introduced a state lottery, which a surplus was generated at the end of his term. On the other hand, he supported the idea to equip all schools with computers. It emerged throughout the state many new schools and many existing institutions were modernized. Even the salaries of teachers, as well as their training have been improved. Governor Caperton also promoted the economic development of his country. The infrastructure has been improved through the expansion of the transport network. At that time, about 86,000 new jobs were created and the unemployment rate fell from 9.8 percent to 6.2 percent. The governor campaigned for environmental protection and improved health policy. He was a member of numerous associations governor.

Further CV

After the expiration of his term of office Caperton taught political science at Harvard University. Then he founded the Institute of Education and Government at Columbia University, whose leader he is today.