George T. Mickelson

George T. Mickelson (1903–1965) was the eighteenth Governor of South Dakota. Mickelson, a Republican from Selby, South Dakota, served from 1947 to 1951. He was born near Selby on July 23, 1903, and he was the first Governor of South Dakota born in the twentieth century. He attended Dakota Wesleyan University and then graduated from law school at the University of South Dakota in 1927. That year he returned to Selby to practice law. He married Madge Turner and they had four children.

Prior to serving as governor, Mickelson served as states attorney for Walworth County, South Dakota. He served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1937-1943 and was speaker of the house in his last term. He was attorney general of South Dakota from 1943-47.

After leaving the governorship, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him a United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota, a position he held until his death in 1965.

Mickelson's son, George S. Mickelson, served as Governor of South Dakota from 1987 to 1993. They are the only father and son pair to hold that office in the history of South Dakota. ["Biographical Directory of the South Dakota Legislature", 1889-1989, p. 750.]

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