Governor #13: Warren Everett Green

Pierre, South Dakota

In office 1931-1933

Warren Green came in dead last in a five-candidate primary to become South Dakota governor. But because no candidate won a majority, the result was thrown to the state's Republican politicians, and they picked Green. In hindsight, he probably wished that they hadn't.

Green inherited a massive state debt, and his two years in office coincided with the worst years of the Great Depression. His statue, by sculptors Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby, reflect his uncomfortable tenure by showing him being blown by a Dust Bowl wind, holding some parched soil in his hand, and having grasshoppers cling to his suit. Green had to deal with bank collapses, business foreclosures, a drought, and statewide crop failures. Denied reelection, he retired to his farm.