Walter Samuel Goodland

Who was Walter Samuel Goodland?

Walter Samuel Goodland was an American politician and the 31st Governor of Wisconsin. He was a Republican. He attended Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Goodland, born in Sharon, Wisconsin, was a lawyer and newspaper owner; he had owned a newspaper in Michigan in Iron Mountain. Goodland spent time on the Gogebic Range as a young man. He came to the range and began practicing law in Wakefield, Michigan. There he began the Wakefield Bulletin, one the early daily newspapers of the range. Later, he established the Ironwood Times, disposing of it in May 1895 to Bennett and Green. The Ironwood Times continued to publish until May 1946. Goodland served in the Wisconsin State Senate. From 1911 to 1915, he was mayor of Racine, Wisconsin. From 1939 to 1943, Walter Goodland was the 29th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin.

In 1942, he was reelected lieutenant governor. On December 7, 1942, Governor-elect Orland Steen Loomis died before his inaugural. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Lieutenant Governor Goodland would serve Orland Loomis's term as acting governor, overriding the view of Governor Julius Heil that he should continue as Governor of Wisconsin. Goodland was initially paid as the Lieutenant Governor, with a salary of $1,500 a year. He earned a six dollar daily bonus for being acting governor while the legislature was in session, and a five dollar daily bonus when it was not.