Earl Warren | Index | Edmund G. "Pat" Brown

Goodwin Knight

31st Governor, Republican
(1953-1959)

- Portait of Governor
- Short Biography
- Administration
- Personal information
- This Time in California

 

Biography*
Goodwin Knight was born in Utah in 1896. When he was just a boy, his family came to California, settling in Los Angeles, where he attended the local schools. As a young man, Knight combined stints as a newspaper reporter, grocery clerk, and hardrock miner with service in the Navy and studies at both Stanford and Cornell Universities prior to entering his chosen field of law. In due time, Knight was appointed Judge of the Superior Court, a position he held for many years. He served as Lt. Governor under Earl Warren, succeeding to the office of Governor in 1953. During his term, Knight made major achievements in the area of water conservation and development, including the beginning of the Feather River Project. He also improved the prisons and created the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Knight died in 1970.

Administration under Governor Goodwin Knight

- Inaugural Address - October 5, 1953
- Inaugural Address - January 3, 1955

The Life of Governor Goodwin Knight

Born
December 9, 1896
Provo, Utah

Died
May 22, 1970
Inglewood, California

Family
First Lady: Virginia Carlson

This Time in California, The Nation, The World
1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959
Calif Warren becomes Chief Justice of the U.S.

 

    Cross-filing in primary elections abolished

 

  Major league baseball begins in state.

 

 
U.S.A Lung cancer linked to smoking

 

School segregation ruled unconstitutional

 

        Robert Noyce makes first microchip

 

World Watson & Crick decipher structure of DNA

 

      USSR launches Sputnik, first earth satellite

 

   


* All Biographies excerpted fromThe Governors of California and their Portraits (see credits)
Governors of California is a service from the California State Library to the People of California