George Theodore Mickelson

George T. Mickelson was born near Selby in Walworth County, South Dakota. His father was a Norwegian immigrant.[1] Mickelson was the first Governor of South Dakota to be born in the twentieth century. Mickelson attended Dakota Wesleyan University and then received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1927.[2] He did not take the bar exam as he was admitted to the South Dakota bar under the state's diploma privilege. That year he returned to Selby to practice law.[2] He married Madge Turner and they had four children.

Prior to serving as governor, Mickelson, a Republican, served as State's Attorney for Walworth County from 1933 to 1936. He served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1937 to 1943 and was Speaker of the House in his last term.

He then served as South Dakota Attorney General from 1943 to 1947.

Mickelson ran as a favorite-son candidate in the 1952 South Dakota presidential primary, supporting Dwight D. Eisenhower's national bid, and lost narrowly to Eisenhower's chief rival, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio.[7]

Mickelson received a recess appointment from President Dwight D. Eisenhower on December 9, 1953, to the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, to a new seat authorized by 65 Stat. 710. He was nominated to the same position by President Eisenhower on January 11, 1954. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 9, 1954, and received his commission the next day. He served as Chief Judge from 1954 to 1965. He served until his death on February 28, 1965.[8][2]

Mickelson is the patriarch of the prominent Mickelson family of South Dakota. Mickelson's son, George S. Mickelson, served as Governor of South Dakota from 1987 to 1993. They are the only father and son duo to serve in that office in the history of South Dakota.[9] His grandson Mark Mickelson served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the South Dakota State Legislature from 2017-18.

Mickelson died February 28, 1965,[2] and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Theodore Mickelson.

• George Theodore Mickelson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 50 (New York: James T. White & Company)
• George Theodore Mickelson at Find a Grave