In
office
January 1, 1983 – January 1, 1991
James Johnston "Jim" Blanchard (born August 8,
1942) is an American politician from Michigan. A Democrat,
Blanchard has served in the United States House of Representatives,
as the 45th Governor of Michigan, and as United States Ambassador
to Canada.
Blanchard attended the public schools in Ferndale, Michigan. He
received a B.A. from Michigan State University in 1964 and an MBA
from the same school in 1965. He received a J.D. from the
University of Minnesota Law School in 1968 and was admitted to the
Michigan bar in the same year. He commenced practice in Lansing and
served as legal advisor to the Michigan Secretary of State,
1968–1969. He was Assistant Attorney General of Michigan,
1969–1974, administrative assistant to the attorney general,
1970–1971, and assistant deputy attorney general,
1971–1972. In 1974 he joined the law firm of Beer and Boltz,
in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
He was not a candidate for reelection in 1982 but was elected
Governor of Michigan, defeating Republican Richard Headlee, a
Farmington Hills insurance company executive.[1] Blanchard served
two terms as governor (1983–1991) until his defeat by
Republican state senator John Engler in 1990. Blanchard was the
first Democratic governor to serve in 20 years since John Swainson
who left office in 1963.
Blanchard became embroiled in a bitter partisan dispute over an
appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court. On December 9, 1982,
outgoing Republican Governor William Milliken appointed Dorothy
Comstock Riley to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Justice Blair Moody on November 26.
Since Milliken was leaving office in less than a month, the
governor-elect Blanchard argued he should have made the appointment
to replace Moody rather than Milliken. Further complicating the
matter, Riley had run for election to the Supreme Court in the 1982
general election and had been defeated. In February 1983, the other
Supreme Court Justices voted 4–2 to remove Riley from the
court. Blanchard replaced her with U.S. District Court Judge
Patricia Boyle. However, Riley won election to the Supreme Court in
1984.
