John Rankin Rogers (4 de septiembre de 1838 - 26 de diciembre de 1901) fue un político estadounidense que sirvió como tercer gobernador de Washington de 1897 a 1901. Elegido como miembro del Partido Popular antes de cambiar su afiliación al Partido Demócrata , Rogers fue elegido para dos mandatos consecutivos en 1896 y 1900, pero murió antes de completar su quinto año en el cargo.
John R. Rogers nació el 4 de septiembre de 1838 en Brunswick, Maine , hijo de Margaret Anne (Green) y John Rogers. [1]
Rogers fue a Boston cuando era joven y trabajó como aprendiz de farmacéutico , luego se mudó al sur, a Mississippi , en 1856 para administrar una farmacia durante cuatro años en Jackson . Se mudó al norte, a Illinois, en 1860, donde cultivó y trabajó como maestro de escuela y farmacéutico. Se casó con Sarah Greene en 1861 y juntos tuvieron cinco hijos. [2]
En 1876, la familia se mudó a Kansas para cultivar y Rogers fue más tarde editor del Kansas Commoner durante varios años en Wichita , y fue organizador dentro de Farmers' Alliance . Rogers se mudó a Washington en 1890 y se instaló en Puyallup , donde dirigió una farmacia.
Rogers was elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 1895 as a Populist,[3] and governor the following year. As governor he supported the "Barefoot Schoolboy Act" which he had first sponsored while in the state legislature. The Act provided a mechanism of state funding to equalize support for free public education between counties which had a large tax base and those without. Rogers was a conditional supporter of the Single Tax Movement associated with Henry George.[4] He switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party in 1900 (he was the first Democrat to serve as governor; Ernest Lister would be the first politician from the state to be elected outright as a Democrat in 1913).
John R. Rogers authored many books, pamphlets and articles[2] that followed a Populist and Arcadian Agrarian spirit. Growing up in New England when Jeffersonian ideals were talked about frequently was a strong influence on his political future.
Rogers served as governor from January 11, 1897, until his death from lobar pneumonia on December 26, 1901, at age 63.[2]Rogers is buried in the Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup.
Two high schools in the state are named for Rogers, on either side of the Cascade Mountains. John R. Rogers High School in Spokane in Eastern Washington opened in 1932 and Governor John R. Rogers High School in Puyallup opened in 1968.
Rogers Field, the football and track stadium at Washington State University in Pullman, was named for him in 1902. A fire, a suspected arson, significantly damaged the wooden stadium in April 1970.[5] The stadium was reconstructed in 1972 and its name changed to Martin Stadium, after Clarence D. Martin, the eleventh governor of Washington (ironically, a graduate of the University of Washington). The present-day Rogers Field at WSU refers to the practice and intramural fields directly west of the stadium.
