Post by Logan on Feb 4, 2016 16:38:20 GMT -6
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb, who escaped from a Japanese prisoner camp by swimming overnight during World War II and then made an around-the-world solo sailing trip while in his 70s, has died at age 98.
The Republican small-town lawyer, who was quick to veto legislation even though the Legislature was controlled by his fellow Republicans, died on Thursday, according to his daughter, Patricia Whitcomb.
"Governor Ed Whitcomb was a great man whose life of courage, service and adventure inspired generations of Hoosiers and he will be deeply missed," Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement Thursday, adding that the former governor died at his home near the Ohio River community of Rome, Indiana.
Whitcomb's tenure from 1969 to 1973 was marked by ongoing disputes over spending and taxes. He vetoed scores of bills, most notably a plan backed by then-House Speaker Otis Bowen in 1971 to cut property taxes by increasing the state sales tax. Whitcomb had won the GOP nomination for governor at the party's 1968 state convention over Bowen, and he took a strict stance against any tax increases.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/491d22fc28d64624a1cf30b641ad512e/ex-indiana-gov-whitcomb-prison-war-wwii-dies-98
The Republican small-town lawyer, who was quick to veto legislation even though the Legislature was controlled by his fellow Republicans, died on Thursday, according to his daughter, Patricia Whitcomb.
"Governor Ed Whitcomb was a great man whose life of courage, service and adventure inspired generations of Hoosiers and he will be deeply missed," Gov. Mike Pence said in a statement Thursday, adding that the former governor died at his home near the Ohio River community of Rome, Indiana.
Whitcomb's tenure from 1969 to 1973 was marked by ongoing disputes over spending and taxes. He vetoed scores of bills, most notably a plan backed by then-House Speaker Otis Bowen in 1971 to cut property taxes by increasing the state sales tax. Whitcomb had won the GOP nomination for governor at the party's 1968 state convention over Bowen, and he took a strict stance against any tax increases.
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/491d22fc28d64624a1cf30b641ad512e/ex-indiana-gov-whitcomb-prison-war-wwii-dies-98