Gordon Hickman Garland

Gordon Hickman Garland
48th Speaker of the California State Assembly
In office
January 29, 1940 – January 18, 1942
Preceded byPaul Peek
Succeeded byCharles W. Lyon
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 38th district
In office
January 4, 1937 – January 4, 1943
Preceded byFord A. Chatters
Succeeded byWalter J. Fourt
Personal details
Born
Gordon Garland

May 16, 1898
Lebanon, Missouri
DiedMay 20, 1986(1986-05-20) (aged 88)
Exeter, California
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseChinina Garland
Children4
ProfessionLegislator, Rancher, Director of DMV, CHP Commissioner, Lobbyist

Gordon Hickman Garland (May 16, 1898 – May 20, 1986)[1] was a conservative Democratic California state legislator and the 48th Speaker of the California State Assembly.[1] Garland also served as Director of the Department of Motor Vehicles in the 1940s and was also Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol. After leaving state government, he became a lobbyist for the Golden Gate Bridge District, the California Water Association, and the California Chiropractic Association and was widely regarded as an expert on water issues in California. Garland was one of ten legislators that wrote the legislation to create the Central Valley Project.[1]

During his Speakership between 1940 and 1942, Garland was often at odds with Governor Culbert L. Olson, a fellow Democrat. Governor Olson's staff was implicated in an electronic eavesdropping scheme in 1940, when bugging devices were discovered in Garland's hotel room in Sacramento.[2]

  1. ^ a b c "Famed for Clashes With Governor : Ex-Speaker Gordon Garland Dies at 88". Los Angeles Times. 1986-05-24. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
  2. ^ LA Times, "Assembly Opens Probe of Garland Spy Plot," Feb. 22, 1940, p. 1.