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Ernest W. Gibson (1901-1969)

Ernest W. Gibson Jr. returned home from World War II as a hero. He had been injured by shrapnel from a bomb during a Japanese air raid in the Pacific. A photograph of Gibson, blood spattered over his uniform, getting his head bandaged was displayed prominently in national and state newspapers.

Gibson already had a strong reputation: He had served briefly by appointment of Gov. George Aiken in the U.S. Senate following the death of his father, who was also named Ernest W. Gibson. But a race for governor was not on young Gibson's mind.He and most others expected that even more famous war hero, Maj. Gen. Leonard "Red" Wing, to run for governor in 1946. But Wing died in 1945 and the race fell to Gibson.

Hammering away at the theme that it was time to oust from power the business interests that had run the state for so long, Gibson defeated the incumbent governor, Mortimer Proctor, in the Republican primary. The Gibson years did much to strengthen the education and welfare systems in the state. In 1950, though, Gibson resigned to become a federal judge.