Governor #22: Archie Gubbrud

Pierre, South Dakota

In office 1961-1965

Archie Gubbrud fractured his pelvis during his 1960 campaign for South Dakota governor and spent most of that year on crutches, but nevertheless won the election and subsequently served in office for two terms. He signed legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in the public accommodations, and oversaw construction of the interstate highway system in South Dakota (which notably bypassed its capital city).

Gubbrud's statue, by sculptors Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby, show Gubbrud gazing, enraptured, at a scaled-down version of a Minuteman nuclear missile, which were installed by the dozens in underground South Dakota silos during Gubbrud's four years in office, concurrent with the most frigid years of the Cold War.