Dewey Follett Bartlett
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Dewey Follett Bartlett
"The press dubbed him ‘Dynamic Dewey’ to mock his deliberate, plodding ways. When he was asked a question he would respond with ‘Hogwash!’"
Biography
Dewey Follett Bartlett, governor of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1971, was born in Ohio and received his degree in geological engineering from Princeton University in 1942. He served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Aviation from 1942 to 1945 before settling in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1945 to enter the family petroleum business. He became a partner at Keener Oil Company in 1951 and served as president of Dewey Supply Company from 1953 to 1956. Bartlett was elected to the Oklahoma Senate in 1963 and was sworn into the office of Oklahoma Governor in January of 1967. A major hallmark of the Bartlett years was his “imaginative revival” of the term “OKIE,” which stood for Oklahoma, Key to Intelligence and Enterprise. After Bartlett left office in 1971, he returned to his oil and ranching investments and only a year later won a seat in the U.S. Senate – giving Oklahoma a “Republican team” in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1924.
Fun fact
Dewey Bartlett was Oklahoma’s first Governor eligible to succeed himself in office when the state’s Constitution was amended to allow successive terms in office.
Oklahoma connections
Bartlett first came to Oklahoma to work in the oilfields during his college years.