John Hubert Hall

Hall was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives (elected 1932, 1938, 1942, 1944, 1946),^{[citation needed]} becoming Speaker in 1947.^[2] On October 28, 1947,^[3] Governor Earl Snell was killed in a plane crash along with the next in line of succession, President of the Senate Marshall E. Cornett. As second in line of succession, Hall became and served as Governor of Oregon until a 1948 special election could be held to elect a governor to complete the term. (In 1972, Oregon Ballot Measure 8 added the Oregon Secretary of State as first in line of succession; however, since Secretary of State Robert S. Farrell, Jr. was also killed in this crash, the result would have been the same.)^[4][5]

During Hall's short tenure as governor, he sought to adjust wages and salaries of state employees for inflation, was a strong supporter of education, and favored a plan to allocate state surpluses on construction projects for higher educational and other state institutions.

From the beginning, Hall's administration was marked by controversy regarding his attempts to liberalize the state's regulation of the liquor industry. He sought to reorganize the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which he had felt had been arbitrary and non-judicial in its decisions when he had represented clients before it, and unresponsive to the legislature during his tenure as a State Representative. The issue came to a head with his dismissal of a commission member who had publicly disagreed with the governor over removing limits on the purchase of liquor.

During the height of the controversy, State Senator Douglas McKay, a friend of late Governor Snell, and president of the Automobile Dealer's Association, announced that he would challenge Hall in the 1948 Republican primary, and quickly launched a well-financed and organized campaign. A contentious race ensued, in which charges of conflicts of interest and immorality were brought to bear against Hall because of his liquor industry ties. Hall lost the nomination to McKay by a statewide vote of 103,224 to 107,993.

After leaving office as governor, Hall moved to Lincoln County, Oregon, to practice law. He served one term as an Oregon district judge, (elected 1965), overcame throat cancer. After a short period of semi-retirement, died in Newport on November 14, 1970 at Pacific Communities Hospital.^[6]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Hubert Hall" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Harding, Glenn T. (1988). Oregon Historical Calendar and Chronology of Events, 1542-1988: Listing Major Historical Events as They Occurred from the Oregon Country to the Oregon Comeback. Oregon Family Pub. ISBN 978-0-945046-01-1. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
• The Gallup Political Almanac for 1948. American Institute of Public Opinion. 1948. Retrieved December 22, 2023.

• "John Hubert Hall". Governors of Oregon. Oregon State Library. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved November 26, 2006.
• "Governor John H. Hall: Biographical Note". Oregon Governors. Oregon State Archives. Retrieved November 26, 2006.

Political offices
Preceded by Earl Snell	Governor of Oregon 1947–1949	Succeeded by Douglas McKay