Daniel Jackson "Dan" Evans Sr. (October 16, 1925 – September 20, 2024) was an American politician from Washington. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the Washington House of Representatives representing Washington's 43rd legislative district from 1957 to 1965, the 16th Governor of Washington from 1965 to 1977, and later served in the United States Senate from 1983 to 1989. He was also the second president of Evergreen State College in Olympia from 1977 to 1983 before being in the U.S. Senate.

After his service in the United States Navy, Evans was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1956. He then served as Republican leader of the House before being elected governor in 1964. He was re-elected two times more in 1968 and in 1972. Considered to be a moderate Republican, particularly on social and environmental issues, Evans supported Nelson Rockefeller for the Republican nomination for president in 1968 and refused to endorse Richard Nixon, despite giving the keynote address at that year's Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida.

Evans was considered a potential candidate for vice president of the United States during his time as governor, but was never chosen. In 1983, he was appointed to the United States Senate following the death of Henry M. Jackson, and was elected in a special election in November and served until 1989, declining to run again. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former U.S. senator and the second-oldest living former American governor.

Early life and education

Evans was born in Seattle to Lester Evans and the former Irma Alice Ide,

Evans was an Eagle Scout and served as a staff member and Hike Master at Camp Parsons as part of the Chief Seattle Council, a well known Boy Scout camp in Washington. As an adult, he was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America in 1973.

After high school, Evans was in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946. Evans became known for his administration's liberal policies on environmentalism (he founded the country's first state-level Washington State Department of Ecology, which became Nixon's blueprint for the United States Environmental Protection Agency) and strong support of the state's higher education system, including founding Washington's system of Washington Community and Technical Colleges. Additionally he signed a bill to legalize abortion in the first four months of a pregnancy and fought unsuccessfully for a state income tax, two more liberal positions. Serial killer Ted Bundy was one of hundreds of campaign volunteers for Evans. Despite rumors, Evans never met Bundy. During the 1972 campaign, Bundy followed Evans's Democratic opponent around the state, tape recording his speeches, and reporting back to a campaign aide. A minor scandal later followed when the Democrats found out about Bundy, who had been posing as a college student and sneaking around wearing wigs, disguises, and a fake mustache as a campaign volunteer trying to gain information to help Evans' campaign.

From 1977 to 1983, Evans was the second president of Evergreen State College in Olympia, He was suggested as a potential running mate for Richard Nixon in 1968, but he declined to be considered. Gerald Ford considered nominating him for the vice presidency in 1974, after he succeeded Nixon mid-term, and as a possible running mate for the 1976 election.

United States Senate (1983–1989)

In 1983, Governor of Washington John Spellman appointed Evans to the United States Senate, to fill a seat left vacant by the death of long-time U.S. Senator Henry M. Jackson. Evans won a special election later in 1983 against United States House of Representatives member Mike Lowry and filled the remainder of Jackson's unexpired term, retiring from politics after the 1988 elections. He was unhappy during his tenure in the Senate, writing in an April 1988 column in The New York Times Magazine, "debate has come to consist of set speeches read before a largely empty chamber" and adding that he felt demoralized by "bickering and protracted paralysis".

Evans voted in favor of the passage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 in addition to voting to override President Ronald Reagan's veto). Evans voted in favor of Robert Bork's Supreme Court nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, which failed when the U.S. Senate rejected Bork's nomination.

Later life and death

After leaving the Senate in 1989, Evans founded his own consulting firm, Daniel J. Evans Associates. His autobiography was published in 2022. On January 26, 2024, his wife of 64 years, Nancy Ann Evans died at age 90 from breast cancer.

Evans died at his home in Seattle on September 20, 2024 at 98. He was the last living former U.S. senator born in the 1920s.

Wilderness preservation efforts

Evans was a Boy Scout whose early experiences hiking in the Olympic Mountains nurtured a life-long love of the wilderness. He supported Congress' creation of North Cascades National Park in 1968. As governor, he persuaded President.Gerald Ford to sign a 1976 legislation creating the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, when the United States Forest Service was urging a veto. In 1989, he co-founded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition, with U.S. House of Representatives member Mike Lowry. They had three sons; Daniel J. Evans Jr., Mark Evans, and Bruce Evans; and nine grandchildren.

Statewide races in Washington

1983 U.S. Senate special election in Washington

  • Dan Evans (incumbent) – 672,326
  • Mike Lowry – 540,981

1972 Washington gubernatorial election

  • Dan Evans (incumbent) – 747,825
  • Albert Rosellini – 630,613

1968 Washington gubernatorial election

  • Dan Evans (incumbent) – 692,378
  • John J. O'Connell – 560,262

1964 Washington gubernatorial election

  • Dan Evans – 697,256
  • Albert Rosellini (incumbent) – 548,692

References

;Other sources

  • Eric McHenry, "Engineer of Change", Columns (the University of Washington alumni magazine), June 2007, p. 22–26.
  • Congressional Biography
  • The Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs

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