page_title: Edmund Muskie
section_title: Second term
hierarchical_section_title: Edmund Muskie / Governor of Maine, 1955–1959 / Second term
caption_attribution_description: English: Edmund Muskie, portrait
context_page_description: Edmund Sixtus Muskie was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 58th United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter, a United States Senator from Maine from 1959 to 1980, the 64th Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, and a member of the Maine House of Representatives from 1946 to 1951. He was the Democratic Party's candidate for Vice President of the United States in the 1968 presidential election, alongside Hubert Humphrey.
  Born in Rumford, Maine to Polish parents, Muskie graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, and Cornell University in Ithaca. He worked as a lawyer for two years before serving in the United States Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Upon his return, Muskie served in the Maine State Legislature from 1946 to 1951 against heavy Republican opposition. Despite an unsuccessful bid for the mayoralty of Waterville, he was elected the 64th Governor of Maine in an upset victory as its first Roman Catholic in 1954.
context_section_description: On September 10, 1956, Muskie was re-elected Governor of Maine with 180,254 votes (59.14% of the vote) against Republican Willis A. Trafton. He won 14 of the 16 counties. He began his second term by aggressively enforcing environmental standards. In 1957, he sanctioned a $29 million highway bond. This bond funded the largest road construction ever undertaken by Maine. The highway included 91 bridges and was extended in 1960 and 1967 by Interstate 95.
  During his tenure as Governor he retained a reputation for increased spending in public education, subsidized hospitals, modernized state facilities, and cumulatively raised state sale taxes by 1%. He added $4 million to infrastructure development focusing on roads and river maintenance. Muskie pushed aggressive economic expansionism. In 1957, he founded the Maine Guarantee Authority which combated economic maturation-related job loss making capital more accessible for business owners. Muskie also sporadically lowered sales tax, increased the minimum wage and furthered labor protections leading to a marked increase in consumer spending. He amended the constitution of Maine in order divert $20 million in public funds into private investment. He increased subsidies to expensive institutions such as public primary and secondary schools as well as universities. Although initially founded in 1836, the Maine State Museum was closed and reopened six time before Muskie permanently endowed it in 1958.
  His governorship exploited multi-factionalism in the Republican Party leading to a vast expansion of the Democratic Party in Maine. From 1954 to 1974, the party doubled in size, while the Republican Party steadily decreased from 262,367 to 227,828 registered members. Numerous state politicians mimicked his political style to push their programs through various local governments and garnered electoral success. His executive appointments of moderate politicians shifted the entire Republican establishment in the state to the left. This shift garnered comparisons to Hubert Humphrey's influence in Minnesota and George McGovern's impact in South Dakota. During his last months as governor he changed his office's term from two years to four years. Shortly before leaving office he moved Maine's general election date from September to November conclusively ending the notion that "as Maine goes, so goes the nation". This was attempted thirty-six times before Muskie brought about a constitutional amendment that moved the date.
  Muskie resigned on January 2, 1959 to take his seat in the United States Senate after the 1958 Senate election. He was succeeded by Republican Robert Haskell in an interim capacity until the Governor-elect, Democrat Clinton Clauson, was inaugurated. Muskie was officially succeeded by Clauson on January 6, 1959.
caption: Muskie's legacy portrait to commemorate his term as the 64th Governor of Maine (1955 to 1959).
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