John S. Fine

John S. Fine
35th Governor of Pennsylvania
In office January 16, 1951 – January 18, 1955
Lieutenant	Lloyd Wood
Preceded by	James Duff
Succeeded by	George Leader
Personal details
Born	John Sydney Fine April 10, 1893 Newport Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States
Died	May 21, 1978 (aged 85)
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Helene Pennebecker Morgan (December 5, 1939–April 23, 1951; her death)[1]
Children	Two sons
Alma mater	Dickinson School of Law
Profession	Attorney, Judge
Religion	Episcopalian

John Sydney Fine (April 10, 1893 – May 21, 1978) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A Republican, he served as the 35th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1955.

Early life and education

Fine was born in Newport Township, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Jacob W. and Margaret (née Croop) Fine.^[2] In 1895, the family moved to nearby Nanticoke, where Fine received his early education at local public schools.^[3] He milked cows and plowed fields on a coal company farm as a young boy, and later reported on local community news for the Wilkes-Barre Record as a teenager.^[4]

After graduating from Nanticoke High School as valedictorian in 1911, Fine studied at the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, earning his law degree in 1914.^[5] He was admitted to practice law in Luzerne County (1914) and before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (1915), opening his own practice in Wilkes-Barre.^[3] From 1916 to 1920, he served as Republican chairman of the Fourth Legislative District of Luzerne County.^[2]

Military and political career

During World War I, Fine served with the 23rd U.S. Army Engineers, reaching the rank of sergeant.^[2] In 1919, while stationed in Ireland, he took postgraduate studies at Trinity College of the University of Dublin.^[5] Following his military service, he resumed his law practice and became a partner in the firm Coughlin and Fine.^[3] He served as secretary of the Republican County Committee from 1920 to 1922, and as chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Committee from 1922 to 1923.^[4] On January 3, 1927, Governor Gifford Pinchot appointed Fine to fill a vacancy in the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County.^[3] He was elected to a regular ten-year term in November of that year, being re-elected to another term in 1939.^[5] He served as a delegate to the 1936 Republican National Convention.^[3] In 1939, he married Helene Pennebecker Morgan, to whom he remained married until her death in 1950; the couple had two sons.^[2]

In 1942, Fine was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.^[4] Governor James H. Duff appointed him to fill a vacancy on the Pennsylvania Superior Court on July 15, 1947.^[5] He was elected to a permanent term in November 1947, serving in that position until he resigned in 1950 to campaign for governor.^[5]

In 1950, after Governor Duff decided to run for the United States Senate, Fine was elected the 35th Governor of Pennsylvania.^[2] In the Republican primary, Fine (the favored candidate of Governor Duff) defeated Philadelphia millionaire Jay Cooke (the favored candidate of the conservative Grundy machine).^[4] In the general election, he narrowly defeated Democrat Richardson Dilworth, who later became the mayor of Philadelphia, by a margin of 86,000 votes.^[2]

Fine was the first Pennsylvania governor to have his inauguration televised.

References

1. "Famous Nanticokians: John Sydney Fine". City of Nanticoke. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
2. "Governor John Sydney Fine". Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.
3. Current Biography. New York: H.W. Wilson Company. 1952.
4. Beers, Paul B. (1980). Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday: The Tolerable Accommodation. Pennsylvania State University Press.
5. "Pennsylvania Governor John Sydney Fine". National Governors Association.

External links

John S. Fine at Find a Grave

• A film clip "Longines Chronoscope with John S. Fine (July 28, 1952)" is available for free download at the Internet Archive