i Economic crisis echoes 1959
Economic crisis echoes 1959
BY SUSAN M. COVER
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 03/02/2009

AUGUSTA -- An economy suffering from a recession.

A plan to extend the period of unemployment benefits for laid-off workers.

A large budget gap.

2009?

No.

1959.

Fifty years ago, Maine faced many of the same challenges that are before the state today. In his inaugural address, Gov. Clinton Clauson, a Waterville Democrat, outlined the issues, expressed hope for the future and talked about the steps he wanted to take to balance the budget.

Fifty years later, Gov. John Baldacci, a Bangor Democrat, is scheduled to give his address March 10.

Baldacci delayed the speech two months to get a better idea of how federal stimulus money -- designed to help ease a national recession -- will help the state.

The address on Jan. 8, 1959, served as both a budget speech and an inaugural for Clauson, a 63-year-old chiropractor and former Waterville mayor.

While Clauson told lawmakers he was looking forward to working toward a "brighter tomorrow," he wasted no time before remarking on the state of the national economy.

"At the same time, I am well aware that the impact of the national recession upon Maine has been severe and that its effects will not permit us to progress as far in the period immediately ahead as we had hoped," he said. "However, to say that is by no means to imply that we should drop anchor. We should press forward as far as prudently possible."

Clauson -- known to many as "Doc" -- was not an obvious choice for governor, and despite being elected to a four-year term, his time in office was short.

Clauson was from Iowa, was a poor public speaker, had worked for the Internal Revenue Service, and was a chiropractor at a time when the profession was not as popular as it is today, said Don Nicoll, a Democratic activist who wrote speeches for Clauson.

"Doc Clauson was one of those rare and wonderful figures who, on the surface, was most unlikely as a successful politician in Maine," Nicoll said.

Not known for his speaking abilities, Clauson made up for it by shaking hands and making a real connection with voters, Nicoll said.

He defeated former Republican Gov. Horace Hildreth, a prominent politician, in September 1958, the last time Mainers voted two months before the rest of the country.

From August 1957 to April 1958, the national economy was in a recession marked by high unemployment and failing businesses, according to recession.org.

Clauson, a World War I veteran, came to office facing an $23 million deficit in the two-year state budget. Revenues to support the two-year budget were estimated at $104.5 million.

He said falling sales tax revenues meant the state could not afford to fund all of the existing and new programs proposed for the state budget. "There are reasons, perhaps, for believing that we are in the tail-end of the recession, but it would be imprudent to go beyond the facts as we have them," he said.

Clauson proposed to eliminate the Office of State Treasurer and encouraged state departments to consolidate. He proposed to set aside $2 million in a "state employee salary adjustment fund" to help increase the pay for some state workers whose pay lagged behind private industry and other New England states.

He also wanted to devote $437,466 to help spur tourism, proposed that the state establish a minimum-wage law at $1 an hour and wanted legislation to prohibit employment discrimination because of age.

"Broadly speaking, the duty of a state government is to advance the well-being of the people," he said.

Clauson was the first governor in Maine to be elected to a four-year term, but a heart attack cut his time short to just 11 months and one day. The Dec. 30 edition of the Daily Kennebec Journal reported that he died in his sleep in the early morning hours.

The governor's press secretary, J.E. Byrne, notified reporters just before 4 a.m.

Byrne, who now lives in Virginia, said Clauson wasn't one to "rock the boat."

"He was a healer and he got along with people," he said. "He was a good governor for the time. He only had that one year, so he didn't get a chance to make his mark on the state."

Susan Cover -- 620-7015

scover@centralmaine.com

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