Loren Briggs Chan

1848 Sagebrush Statesman: Tasker L. Oddie of Nevada, by Loren Briggs Chan (read 4 May 1984) This is a little parochial book which I enjoyed very much. Oddie was born in Brooklyn. N.Y., on 24 Oct 1870. He went to Nevada as a young man. He had some success in mining, was a state senator 1905-1909, and was elected Governor 8 Nov 1910, getting 10,435 votes to Democratic incumbent (acting) governor Denver S. Dickenson's 8,798 and Socialist Henry F. Gegox's 1,393. He was defeated for re-election in 1914 and again lost in 1918. In 1920 he ran for U.S. Senator and got 11,550 votes to Democratic incumbent Charles B. Henderson's 10,402 and 4,981 for Anne Martin, a 'progressive." He was re-elected in 1926 but lost in 1932 to Pat McCarran. He died Feb 17, 1950. This was a biography of a little-known Senator that I found very satisfying to read even though the account was not very objective--it tended to denigrate Oddie--and not exceptionally scholarly. It is the kind of book one'd write for a thesis of some kind.… (mais)