Frederick W. Plaisted (courtesy of Maine State Museum)
(1865-1943) born in Bangor on July 26, 1865, served as Governor 1911-1913. His father, Harris M. Plaisted, was a Republican governor from 1881 to 1883. After attending local public schools and St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont, Frederick put his interest in journalism to work by becoming, as was his father, the owner-editor of the New Age newspaper in Augusta from 1889 to 1914.
A politically active Democrat, Plaisted was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1896 and 1900 and an unsuccessful candidate for Congress at a special election in 1897. From 1906 to 1910 he was Augusta’s Mayor and Kennebec County Sheriff from 1907 to 1908.
By 1910 the Democrats had nominated Plaisted to challenge incumbent Republican Governor Fernald, whose administration was seen as “extravagant” and had angered some prohibitionists by vetoing a bill with very severe penalties for violation of the liquor laws.
Plaisted won, to the shock of many Republicans, and the Democrats controlled the legislature, yet another jolt to the GOP. He was the first democratic Governor since his father’s election in 1882. But the Democrats luck did not hold. The potentially split Republicans patched their differences to defeat Plaisted in 1912.
He returned to private life in 1913 and lived another thirty years, dying on March 4, 1943.
Additional resources
*Kennebec Journal, Augusta, March 5, 1943
Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2
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*Cited in Friends of the Blaine House at http://blainehouse.org/governors(accessed April 25, 2011) (accessed April 25, 2011)