Thomas Read (politician)

Thomas Read was a Republican politician from Michigan who served in the Michigan House of Representatives including as its Speaker during the 50th Legislature, as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan under Alex J. Groesbeck, as a member of the Michigan State Senate, and as Michigan Attorney General.^[1]

Born in Rochester, New York of English and Scottish ancestry to Thomas and Jane Read on May 28, 1881, Read was either a candidate for or served in nearly all state-level offices in Michigan (he was never a candidate for or elected Secretary of State). He was a candidate in the primary for Governor of Michigan in 1924, losing to Alex J. Groesbeck, and 1940, losing to Luren Dickinson.

Read was a presidential elector for Michigan in 1928, casting a ballot for Herbert Hoover, and a delegate to the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia which nominated Wendell Willkie (who eventually lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan was a candidate for the nomination at that convention.

The elementary school in his hometown of Shelby is named for Read.^[2]

References

Lieutenant Governors of Michigan
Mundy Gordon Drake Richardson Greenly Bush Fenton Britain Parsons Griswold Coe Fairfield Birney Williams Backus C. May Grosvenor D. May Bates Holt Sessions Crosby Buttars MacDonald Ball Strong Giddings Milnes McLaughlin Dunstan Robinson Maitland Kelley Ross Dickinson Read Welsh Dickinson Stebbins Read Nowicki Dickinson Wilson Murphy Keyes Connolly Vandenberg Reid Hart Swainson Lesinski Milliken Schweigert Brickley Damman Brickley Griffiths Binsfeld Posthumus Cherry Calley

Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives
Convis Whipple Bingham Acker Fuller Biddle Bingham McClelland Lothrop Hanscom Crary Peck Buel Chapman Harris Thurber Quackenboss Lovell Stout Shaw Mussey Cutcheon Read Warner Woodman Croswell Hoyt Rich Moffatt Howard Clark Markey Diekema Wachtel Tateum Gordon Adams Carton Master Whelan Campbell Baker Currie Smith Rice Read Warner Welsh Wells Gardner Ming Bradley Schroeder Nugent Knox Van Valkenburg Van Peursem Pears Green Kowalski Waldron Ryan Crim Owen Dodak Hertel Hillegonds Hertel Perricone Johnson DeRoche Dillon Bolger Cotter Leonard (designate)