For a week in the summer of 1953, Seattle was awash with dignitaries as the host city for the National Governors Association’s annual conference. Between August 2nd and 6th, governors of each state and territory converged at the Olympic Hotel for meetings and speeches, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower and several cabinet members making an appearance.

“Today the Puget Sound country is host to one of the most important gatherings which it has ever held. The governors of the individual states and territories are gathering in Seattle for the 45th annual governor’s conference. The President of the United States hopes to attend and a host of other important officials will be on hand. The eyes of the world are on this conference.”

Tacoma News Tribune, August 3, 1953

The State of Washington pulled out all the stops showcasing the state and the region. Almost a decade before the World’s Fair, it was a chance to put Seattle and Washington state in the national spotlight.

Lavish attention was extended to the guests of honor. While in Seattle, each governor was assigned a Washington State Patrolman as a personal driver, along with a specially-painted green and gold Ford.

And, most importantly, each car bore a pair of custom-made license plates, in green and gold to match the cars, with the full name and state of each attendee boldly printed.

The Cars

It wasn’t just Seattle that saw a chance to shine on the national stage; such an event was a choice opportunity for companies to gain a bit of exposure for themselves. The Ford Motor Company took full advantage, donating a fleet of 1953 Ford sedans for the week.

“A total of 60 state patrol officers will participate in the special duty July 30 through Aug. 6. Each governor of a state or territory will have a patrolman driver and exclusive use of a special green and gold Ford sedan bearing a personalized souvenir license plate.”

Kitsap Sun, July 25, 1953

While rather ordinary cars considering the pomp surrounding the event, they were dressed up with matching green and gold paint schemes, official door seals, and, of course, personalized license plates boldly announcing the temporary “owner” of each car.

“Each governor had for his own use a new Ford painted in green and gold, bearing a name plate instead of a license plate on which his name was engraved. A state patrolman had been designated to drive him anywhere at any time and a naval officer was assigned to be his escort. It was quite a spectacle to see 50 new 1953 gold topped Ford sedans lined up at the hotel entrance three abreast with a uniformed stalwart state patrolman standing beside each awaiting the arrival of his particular governor or Cabinet member.” Longview Daily News, August 10, 1953.

The License Plates

“The Ford Motor Company is providing each governor with a forest green car with gold top and is being chauffeured by a state patrolman for his use while in the state. The license plate on the rear of each car will be a scotchlite plate which reads somewhat as follows: ‘Governor Allan Shivers – Texas [Shivers was chair of the National Governors Association that year].’ Tacoma News Tribune, August 3, 1953.

While a first-time novelty for Washington state, personalized special event license plates for the annual Governors Conferences had become a tradition since the 1948 event, held in New Hampshire, and would continue on into the 21st century.

While some states used their standard license plate manufacturing process to make the special governor plates, Washington opted to use a third party, perhaps because the penitentiary in Walla Walla did not have the necessary dies or equipment to produce the design. Instead, the job went to the Tacoma firm of Cole and Redmayne, a silk screen company.

Being silk screened, their product is flat, on thin aluminum, and likely cheaper to produce than a fully-embossed and painted license plate. The design also marked the first and only usage of “WASHINGTON STATE” on a license plate.

There was even a license plate made for President Eisenhower, which likely never saw use on the President’s limo:

License plate for Ike ready:

“A Seattle firm manufacturing special license tags for the green and gold sedans which the nation’s governors will use during their convention here next month has finished its most important job. Cole and Redmayne officials announced today they have finished a plate bearing the name of President Eisenhower.” Kitsap Sun, July 13, 1953.

Ike probably didn’t ride around in one of the Fords, either.

Governor Theodore McKeldin

The license plate in my collection was issued to Governor Theodore R. McKeldin of Maryland, and is believed to have been saved through his estate or that of his descendants.

Theordore Roosevelt McKeldin (1900-1974) was two and a half years into his eight-year run as governor of Maryland (January 1951 to January 1959) at the time of the Seattle Governors Conference.

McKeldin, an attorney by education, had a long career in Maryland politics. He served as the mayor of Baltimore twice: before his governorship (1943 to 1947), and again after leaving the governor’s mansion (1963 to 1967). Interestingly, McKeldin’s successor as mayor the first time was Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr, whose son, Thomas D’Alesandro III, would succeed McKeldin after his second term. The D’Alesandros were also, respectively, the father and brother of future Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

According to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article published on the first day of the Governors Conference, McKeldin’s journey to Seattle was preceeded by a brief sojourn in Oregon with eight other eastern governors as guests of Governor Paul Patterson, with a visit to Mt. Hood part of the weekend itinerary.

The Event

“The total bills to the state will exceed $60,000. In return for this the state expects to receive extensive advertising that cannot be purchased for anything like this sum.” Longview Daily News, August 10, 1953.

The event, centered around the Olympic Hotel, was predicably full of meetings and conferences, but the itinerary offered plenty of opportunities to explore the immediate region and enjoy Seattle’s natural beauty. The conference coincided with Seafair, adding an extra dose of festivity and the chance to showcase a perfect Pacific Northwest summer.

Attendees were treated to an unexpectedly impressive show when a small airshow at Sand Point went awry and a helicopter crashed into Lake Washington while the governors and their entourage looked on (all survived).

President Eisenhower attended for one night and was greeted with an outpouring of enthusiasm. He cast a more somber note in his Tuesday speech to the governors; in a portent of the war-torn 1960s to come, his speech contained the first public use of the term “domino theory”, with the President warning that the “advance of communism in Southeast Asia and Iran has a created a ‘very ominous’ threat to American Security” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 5, 1953).

The following day, as President Eisenhower returned to Washington, DC, the governors journeyed to the Seattle waterfront, presumably in a parade of green and gold Fords, to greet troops returning home from Korea on the Marine Lynx. “Each governor or his representative was scheduled to escort a homecoming soldier from his state in an entertainment-studded parade through Seattle” (Salisbury [Maryland] Times, August 5, 1953). Cpl. Eugene W. Campbell of Hagerstown, Maryland received a hero’s welcome from Governor McKeldin and joined a massive entourage of convertibles that took the soldiers and their hosts to Fort Lawton.

The press deemed the conference a massive success, boosted by perfect weather and a warm reception from Seattleites. It was probably an effective trial run for the World’s Fair in 1962.

What became of the green and gold cars? On loan from Ford, they likely were all sold to private parties, but it is unclear if they were ever repainted. The custom license plates surely had a high survival rate; at least one of each pair probably was sent home with each dignitary. I’m only aware of Governor McKeldin’s license plate in a modern collection, but would love to know of others that are accounted for.

Information Wanted

I am always looking for more information about the 1953 Seattle Governors Conference, the cars, and the license plates used on them. Governor Washington State 1953 plates with dignitary names must have survived in fairly large numbers given their intentional creation as souvenirs. Please contact me with any information about surviving examples or photos – I would love to learn more!