Richard Snelling: the Shelburne businessman who governed Vermont five times
Photo: State of Vermont, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Richard Arkwright Snelling was born in Allentown, Pa., in 1927 and came to Vermont after Harvard and Army service. He settled in Shelburne and co-founded Shelburne Industries, a manufacturing company, before getting into politics.
He served in the Vermont House in the late 1950s and again in the 1970s, and he lost a race for governor in 1966. In 1976 he won, and he was reelected three times, serving from 1977 to 1985. He was known as a hands-on manager who studied budgets line by line, and he was active nationally, chairing the National Governors Association.
The comeback
Snelling left office in 1985 and lost a U.S. Senate race in 1986 to Patrick Leahy. He might have stayed out of politics, but by 1990 Vermont faced a deep budget deficit as the recession hit. He ran for governor again and won.
In his short final term, Snelling pushed through a package of spending cuts and temporary tax increases to close the gap, working with a Democratic legislature. The deal was unpopular in places but put the state back on track.
Death in office
On Aug. 13, 1991, Snelling died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Shelburne. Lt. Gov. Howard Dean became governor and went on to serve more than 11 years.
Snelling’s wife, Barbara, later served as lieutenant governor and in the state Senate, and their daughter Diane Snelling also served in the Vermont Senate. The Snelling Center for Government in Williston, created in his memory, trains Vermonters for public leadership.
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