Charles Clinton Gossett

Charles Clinton Gossett (September 2, 1888 – September 20, 1974) was an American politician who served as the 20th governor of Idaho and a United States Senator from Idaho, holding both offices for less than a year each in the 1940s. A member of the Democratic Party, he served one term in the United States Senate from 1945 to 1947, during a significant period in American history at the close of World War II and the beginning of the postwar era. In these roles, he participated in the legislative process and represented the interests of his Idaho constituents at both the state and national levels.

Gossett was born in Pricetown, Highland County, Ohio, on September 2, 1888, and attended the public schools of Ohio. In his youth he worked in agriculture-related pursuits, experience that would shape his later business and political career in the rural West. Seeking opportunity beyond his native state, he moved west in the early twentieth century, part of a broader migration that was transforming the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West.

In 1907 Gossett settled in Cunningham, Washington, where he began to establish himself in agricultural and livestock enterprises. He moved to Ontario, Oregon, in 1910, continuing his involvement in farming, livestock, and related businesses. On November 28, 1916, he married Clara Louise Fleming; the couple would have three children. In 1922 Gossett moved again, this time to Nampa, Idaho, which became his long-term home and the base for both his business and political careers. In Nampa he engaged in agriculture, livestock, feed, and shipping businesses, building a regional reputation as a businessman in the agricultural sector.

Gossett entered public office during the Great Depression, when economic hardship and New Deal politics reshaped Idaho’s political landscape. In 1932 he was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives, marking his first service in elective office. He advanced quickly in state politics and, in 1936, was elected the 22nd lieutenant governor of Idaho, serving a two-year term alongside Governor Barzilla Clark. After a brief interval out of that office, he returned as the 24th lieutenant governor following the 1940 elections, this time serving under Governor Chase Clark, Barzilla Clark’s younger brother. These lieutenant governorships gave him statewide visibility and experience in executive-branch leadership.

In 1944 Gossett was elected governor of Idaho in his own right. He won the Democratic primary in June over Idaho State Auditor Calvin Wright and Idaho Secretary of State George Curtis, and then prevailed in the November general election over Republican nominee William Detweiler of Hazelton. This gubernatorial election was the last in Idaho for a two-year term. Although elected for that full term, Gossett served less than a year as governor. In November 1945 he resigned the governorship so that his lieutenant governor and successor, Arnold Williams, could appoint him to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator John Thomas.

Gossett’s service in the United States Senate extended from his appointment in November 1945 until January 3, 1947. As a Democratic Senator from Idaho during the closing months of World War II and the immediate postwar period, he contributed to the legislative process in the Seventy-ninth Congress, participating in debates over reconversion to a peacetime economy, veterans’ issues, and other national concerns of the era. His tenure, however, was limited. In the 1946 special election to fill the remainder of the Senate term, he sought to retain the seat but was defeated in the Democratic primary in June by State Senator George Donart. Donart was subsequently defeated in the November general election by Republican U.S. Representative Henry Dworshak, ending Gossett’s brief service in the Senate.

After leaving Congress in 1947, Gossett returned to his former business pursuits in agriculture, livestock, and related enterprises in Idaho. He remained an influential figure in state Democratic politics and, in 1954, attempted a political comeback by running again for governor. At that time, Idaho’s constitution did not permit self-succession, so incumbent Republican Governor Len Jordan was ineligible to run for immediate reelection. Gossett sought the Democratic nomination but was defeated in the August primary by State Senator Clark Hamilton, who went on to lose the general election to Republican Attorney General Robert Smylie. Despite this setback, Gossett continued to serve the state in an appointed capacity when Governor Smylie named him to the Idaho Tax Commission in 1956. Gossett served on the commission for more than a decade, until 1967, contributing to the administration of Idaho’s tax laws and fiscal policy.

In his later years, Gossett lived in Idaho and remained associated with the Nampa community where he had long resided. Following an extended illness, he died in Boise, Idaho, on September 20, 1974, at the age of 86. He was interred at Kohlerlawn Cemetery in Nampa, Idaho. Through his varied career as businessman, state legislator, lieutenant governor, governor, and U.S. Senator, Charles Clinton Gossett played a notable role in Idaho’s political history during the mid-twentieth century.