Lee E. Emerson

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title: "Lee E. Emerson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1898-births", "1976-deaths", "people-from-barton,-vermont", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "syracuse-university-alumni", "george-washington-university-law-school-alumni", "vermont-lawyers", "speakers-of-the-vermont-house-of-representatives", "republican-party-members-of-the-vermont-house-of-representatives", "republican-party-vermont-state-senators", "presidents-pro-tempore-of-the-vermont-senate", "lieutenant-governors-of-vermont", "republican-party-governors-of-vermont", "people-from-hardwick,-vermont", "20th-century-members-of-the-vermont-general-assembly"] description: "American politician (1898–1976)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_E._Emerson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1898–1976) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Lee Earl Emerson
image	Lee Emerson Vermont 2.jpg
order1	69th
office1	Governor of Vermont
term_start1	January 4, 1951
term_end1	January 6, 1955
lieutenant1	Joseph B. Johnson
predecessor1	Harold J. Arthur
successor1	Joseph B. Johnson
order2	63rd
office2	Lieutenant Governor of Vermont
term_start2	1945
term_end2	1949
governor2	Mortimer R. Proctor
Ernest W. Gibson, Jr.
predecessor2	Mortimer R. Proctor
successor2	Harold J. Arthur
office3	President pro tempore of the Vermont Senate
term_start3	1943
term_end3	1945
predecessor3	Joseph H. Denny
successor3	John A. M. Hinsman
office4	Member of the Vermont Senate
term_start4	1943
term_end4	1945
constituency4	Orleans County
alongside4	John M. Bradley
predecessor4	Harold H. Farman, Addison W. Fletcher
successor4	John M. Bradley, Carlyle Verne Willey
office5	Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives
term_start5	1941
term_end5	1943
predecessor5	Oscar L. Shepard
successor5	Asa S. Bloomer
office6	Member of the Vermont House of Representatives
term_start6	1939
term_end6	1943
constituency6	Barton
predecessor6	Addison W. Fletcher
successor6	William Erastus Hanson
birth_date
birth_place	Hardwick, Vermont, US
death_date
death_place	Berlin, Vermont, ,US
restingplace	Welcome O. Brown Cemetery, Barton, Vermont
spouse	Dorcas Ball Emerson
profession	Attorney
alma_mater	Syracuse University
George Washington University Law School
party	Republican
branch	United States Army
branch_label	Service
serviceyears	1918
rank	Private
unit	Students' Army Training Corps, Syracuse University
battles	World War I
battles_label	Wars
::

|name = Lee Earl Emerson |image = Lee Emerson Vermont 2.jpg |caption = |order1 = 69th |office1 = Governor of Vermont |term_start1 = January 4, 1951 |term_end1 = January 6, 1955 |lieutenant1 = Joseph B. Johnson |predecessor1= Harold J. Arthur |successor1= Joseph B. Johnson |order2 = 63rd |office2 = Lieutenant Governor of Vermont |term_start2 = 1945 |term_end2 = 1949 |governor2 = Mortimer R. Proctor Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. |predecessor2 = Mortimer R. Proctor |successor2 = Harold J. Arthur |office3 = President pro tempore of the Vermont Senate |term_start3 = 1943 |term_end3 = 1945 |predecessor3 = Joseph H. Denny |successor3 = John A. M. Hinsman |office4 = Member of the Vermont Senate |term_start4 = 1943 |term_end4 = 1945 |constituency4 = Orleans County |alongside4 = John M. Bradley |predecessor4 = Harold H. Farman, Addison W. Fletcher |successor4 = John M. Bradley, Carlyle Verne Willey |office5 = Speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives |term_start5 = 1941 |term_end5 = 1943 |predecessor5 = Oscar L. Shepard |successor5 = Asa S. Bloomer |office6 = Member of the Vermont House of Representatives |term_start6 = 1939 |term_end6 = 1943 |constituency6 = Barton |predecessor6 = Addison W. Fletcher |successor6 = William Erastus Hanson |birth_date = |birth_place = Hardwick, Vermont, US |death_date =
|death_place = Berlin, Vermont, ,US |restingplace = Welcome O. Brown Cemetery, Barton, Vermont |spouse = Dorcas Ball Emerson |profession = Attorney |alma_mater = Syracuse University George Washington University Law School |party = Republican |branch = United States Army |branch_label = Service |serviceyears = 1918 |rank = Private |unit = Students' Army Training Corps, Syracuse University |battles = World War I |battles_label = Wars Lee Earl Emerson (December 19, 1898 – May 21, 1976) was an American politician who served in both the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 63rd Lieutenant Governor of Vermont and the 69th governor of Vermont. When he was first elected in the 1950 Vermont gubernatorial election, he received over 70% of the vote, a feat not equaled until 1992 (by Howard Dean) and not until 2022 by a Republican (Phil Scott). Despite his success in 1950, he lost the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Vermont in 1958 to Congressman Winston L. Prouty. He also lost the 1960 primary for Vermont's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to incumbent Governor Robert T. Stafford.

Early life

Emerson was born in Hardwick, Vermont, on December 19, 1898, and moved to Barton at the age of 16. He graduated from Barton Academy in 1917, and served in the United States Army during World War I as a member of the Students' Army Training Corps. Emerson received an A.B. from Syracuse University in 1921 and an LL.B. from George Washington University Law School in 1926. He practiced law in Barton.

Political career

He was elected as a Republican to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1938 and served two terms. He was elected Speaker of the House in his second term, serving from 1941 to 1943. He was elected to the Vermont Senate in 1942, served from 1943 to 1945, and was elected President Pro Tempore. He was elected Lieutenant Governor of Vermont in 1944 and 1946, serving from 1945 to 1949.

Throughout much of Vermont's history Governors and Lieutenant Governors had served two one-year terms, and later one two-year term as part of the Republican Party's "Mountain Rule." However, Ernest W. Gibson, Jr. had successfully challenged the established structure to win the governorship in 1946. Gibson defeated Emerson in the 1948 Republican primary and went on to win reelection to a second term. Emerson's fellow conservative Harold J. Arthur succeeded Emerson as lieutenant governor. When Arthur unexpectedly became governor in 1950 after Gibson resigned to accept a federal judgeship, Arthur served out Gibson's term but declined to run for a full term himself, clearing the way for Emerson's comeback. Emerson was elected governor in 1950 and reelected in 1952, serving from 1951 to 1955. (Arthur instead ran for the U.S. House and lost the Republican primary to Winston Prouty, who went on to win the general election.)

As Governor, he recommended that Vermont citizens serving in the Korean War be paid a bonus by the state. He supported studies of the feasibility of building a natural gas pipeline for Vermont and of possible racial discrimination in the state. Also during his administration, legislation known as the Forest Act was passed, providing assistance for municipalities to establish forests.

Emerson also played a role in the Novikoff Affair, in which a tenured University of Vermont professor Alex B. Novikoff was dismissed for alleged Communist sympathies that were never substantiated.

Post gubernatorial career

In 1958, he ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate, losing the Republican nomination to Winston Prouty.

In 1960, Emerson was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for Vermont's seat in the United States House of Representatives, losing to incumbent Governor Robert T. Stafford. Stafford went on to victory in the general election, defeating one term incumbent William H. Meyer, the first Democrat elected statewide in more than 100 years. (Myer had defeated Harold Arthur in the 1958 general election for the U.S. House seat.)

Personal

Emerson married Dorcas M. Ball on August 4, 1927. They had two children, Nancy and Cynthia.

Death and burial

He died in Berlin, Vermont, on May 26, 1976. He is buried at Welcome O. Brown Cemetery in Barton.

Footnotes

References

1. link. (June 29, 2011)
2. "Lee E. Emerson entry", ''Current Biography Yearbook,'' by H. W. Wilson Company, 1954, page 183
3. "Vermont Archives". Speakers of the House.
4. "Vermont State Legislature". Vermont Senate Presidents Pro Tempore.
5. "Vermont Secretary of State," ''Vermont Legislative Directory and State Manual,'' 1981, page 104
6. "The Vermont Encyclopedia," By John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand and Ralph H. Orth, 2003, page 96
7. "Yankee Politics in Rural Vermont," by Frank M. Bryan, 1974, page 91
8. "Harold J. Arthur entry," ''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography,'' by James Terry White, Volume 57, 1977, page 135
9. "The Vermont Political Tradition," by William T. Doyle, 1987, page 288
10. {{usurped
11. {{usurped
12. "National Governor's Association". Vermont Governor Lee E. Emerson.
13. [http://vermonthistory.org/index.php/alexbnovikoff.html "Vermont Historical Society,"] ''The Case of Alex B. Novikoff''
14. [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/11/obituaries/alex-b-novikoff-dies-professor-and-biologist.html "New York Times,"] ''Alex B. Novikoff Dies; Professor and Biologist'', January 11, 1987
15. [http://vermont-archives.org/govhistory/elect/primary/pdf/p1958.pdf "Vermont Archives"]{{Dead link. (February 2020)
16. [http://vermont-archives.org/govhistory/elect/primary/pdf/p1960.pdf "Vermont Archives"]{{Dead link. (February 2020)
17. "The Bob Mitchell Years: An Anthology of a Half Century of Editorial Writing," by Robert W. Mitchell, Rutland Herald, 1994, page 447
18. [https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C13FB35551A7A93C2AB178BD95F448685F9 "New York Times"], ''Democrat Fights Vermont Battle; Meyer Believed in Trouble in House Contest Against Gov. Robert T. Stafford,'' by John H. Fenton, October 20, 1960
19. [http://vermontgenealogy.wordpress.com/2006/12/23/obituaries-022001/ Burlington Free Press Obituaries 02/2001 « Vermont History and Genealogy]
20. (August 2025). "University of Vermont". Lee E. Emerson.
21. "RootsWeb". Welcome O. Brown Cemetery, Barton, Vt..

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