Winfield Scott Hammond

Who was Winfield Scott Hammond?

Winfield Scott Hammond was an American politician. He was a Democrat.

Born in 1863 in Southborough, Massachusetts, he served from Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives in the 60th, 61st, 62nd, and 63rd congresses from March 4, 1907 to January 6, 1915. He was the 18th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1915 until his death December 30, 1915. Hammond is just one of four Minnesota Democrats to win a gubernatorial election with a Democrat in the White House. He was the second governor of Minnesota to die in office. Joseph Alfred Arner Burnquist succeeded to the governorship to fill the vacancy left by Hammond's death.

Minnesota's eighteenth governor had little time to effect significant change before he died in office. Had he lived longer, perhaps Winfield Scott Hammond would have realized his ambitious plans to reorganize state government by minimizing bureaucracy and eliminating waste to make Minnesota's wheels turn more efficiently. Instead, his most notable legislation was the "county option bill," a restriction on liquor sales that pleased prohibition advocates.