Roland H. Hartley

Roland Hill Hartley ( born June 26, 1864 in New Brunswick, Canada, † September 21, 1952 in Seattle, Washington ) was an American politician and from 1925 to 1933, the tenth Governor of the State of Washington.

Early years and political rise

Roland Hartley was born in Canada but grew up in Minnesota. There he entered the timber trade. Then he was private secretary to the Governor of Minnesota, David Marston Clough. In 1903 he moved to Everett in Washington State, where he was engaged in the timber trade again. Between 1910 and 1911 he was mayor of this place. From 1915 to 1916 he sat as an MP in the House of Representatives from Washington. In 1924 he was elected as a candidate of the Republican Party as the new governor, where he prevailed with 56:32 percent of the vote to Democrat Ben F. Hill.

Governor of Washington

Roland Hartley took up his new post on January 12, 1925. After he was confirmed in 1928 by the voters, he could remain in office until January 9, 1933. During this time, a centralized Highway Administration Authority ( Centralized State Highway Department ) was created; Further, the laws governing forestry have been in 1928, the Court of the State notes that in elections, the candidate of the Workers' Party, must appear on the ballot paper. Hartley's second term was overshadowed by the events of the world economic crisis that has also shaken the state of Washington. In 1931, the unemployment in the country rose dramatically. The record was achieved in 1933 with an unemployment rate of 25 percent. As a result of these circumstances, there were riots and protest marches. An improvement of the situation could not also bring about Governor Hartley. Only in the further course of the 1930s the situation improved with the help of federal policy and the New Deal program under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Further CV

In 1932 Hartley opted not to run again. Four years later he made ​​an unsuccessful attempt, however, to be elected to the office of governor. After he retired from politics. Roland Hartley died in September 1952. He was married to Nina M. Clough, daughter of Minnesota's Governor David Clough. Together the couple had three children.