Print
Permanent LinkSenator Daniel Webster Turner View All Years
DANIEL W. TURNER
MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare a suitable resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the late Governor Daniel W. Turner, begs leave to submit the following memorial:
Daniel Webster Turner was born March 17, 1877, on a farm near Corning, Adams County, Iowa. He died April 15, 1969, at Corning, Iowa, 92 years old.
Shortly after graduation from the old Corning Academy in 1898, he enlisted in the Army for service in the Spanish-American war. He served in the Philippines.
He joined the Iowa National Guard when he came home from the war and rose to the rank of major before resigning ten years later.
In 1903 he was elected State Senator from the old Adams-Taylor County district. He was 26 years old, the youngest Iowan ever elected to the Senate up to that time.
He served six years in the Senate as a member of the Progressives who engaged in constant warfare with “Standpatters” for control of the Republican Party. When he was a Senator, the Progressives forced the adoption of the direct primary for nominating major party candidates for office.
He was one of the finest public speakers of his time and he keynoted Republican state conventions three times.
During World War I he served as a Y.M.C.A. secretary in France. In World War II he worked with the War Production Board in Washington.
In 1930 he won the Republican nomination for Governor and was elected.
Mrs. Turner died in 1961. A son, Ned, died at 39 while serving with the armed forces in China during World War II. Surviving are a son, Prof. Thomas Turner of the University of Iowa at Iowa City; a daughter, Mrs. Marjorie Witt of Mount Kisco, New York, and six grandchildren.
Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-third General Assembly of Iowa: That in the passing of Governor Daniel W. Turner, the State of Iowa has lost a valued and honored citizen and by this resolution attests its sincere sympathy to the family.
Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the Senate and the Secretary of the Senate be directed to send an enrolled copy to his son and daughter.
JAMES E. BRILES, Chairman
VERN LISLE
QUENTIN V. ANDERSON
Committee
The resolution was unanimously adopted.