Bill Janklow
Bill Janklow | |
|---|---|
Portrait, c. 2003 | |
| 27th and 30th Governor of South Dakota | |
| In office January 7, 1995 – January 3, 2003 | |
| Lieutenant | Carole Hillard |
| Preceded by | Walter Dale Miller |
| Succeeded by | Mike Rounds |
| In office January 1, 1979 – January 6, 1987 | |
| Lieutenant | Lowell Hansen |
| Preceded by | Harvey Wollman |
| Succeeded by | George S. Mickelson |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Dakota's at-large district | |
| In office January 3, 2003 – January 20, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | John Thune |
| Succeeded by | Stephanie Herseth Sandlin |
| 25th Attorney General of South Dakota | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 1, 1979 | |
| Governor | Richard Kneip Harvey Wollman |
| Preceded by | Kermit Sande |
| Succeeded by | Mark Meierhenry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William John Janklow September 13, 1939 |
| Died | January 12, 2012 (aged 72) |
| Resting place | Black Hills National Cemetery |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | Mary Dean Thom |
| Education | University of South Dakota (BS, JD) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1956–1959 |
| Rank | Private First Class |
| Unit | 3rd Marine Division |
| Battles/wars | Second Taiwan Strait Crisis |
| Awards | 823 Badge of Honor (Taiwan) |
William John Janklow (September 13, 1939 – January 12, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician and member of the Republican Party. He holds the record for the longest tenure as the governor of South Dakota: sixteen years in office. Janklow had the third-longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,851 days.
Janklow's career was tainted, but not significantly impeded, in 1974 by accusations of raping 15-year-old Native American Jancita Eagle Deer at gunpoint in 1967, an act for which Janklow was locally disbarred. The FBI reopened the case in 1975 when Janklow was appointed by Gerald Ford to the board of the Legal Services Corporation, but investigations were closed at the request of the White House. Jancita and her mother Delphine died shortly thereafter, of apparently unrelated homicides.
Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota from 1975 to 1979 before being elected as the state's 27th Governor. He served two terms, from 1979 to 1987. He was elected again in 1994, and served as the 30th Governor another two full terms, from 1995 to 2003.
Janklow was elected in 2002 to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for a little more than a year. He resigned in 2004 after being convicted of manslaughter for his culpability in a fatal automobile crash.