MARVIN MANDEL
Governor of Maryland
Marvin Mandel, Maryland's fifty - sixth
elected Governor, was elected to a second
four-year term on November 5, 1974, in a
virtual duplication of his overwhelming vic-
tory for a first full term in 1970.
After serving two years of his predeces-
sor's unfinished term. Governor Mandel was
elected to a full four-year term in 1970 by
the largest vote ever recorded by a candidate
for Governor of Maryland. In winning a
second term in 1974, he nearly matched the
achievement by polling 64 percent of the
total vote.
During his years in office. Governor Man-
del has compiled one of the most outstand-
ing records of progress, innovation and
reform of any Governor in the Nation. At
the same time. Governor Mandel's leader-
ship and ability have been recognized by
the toughest critics possible — his fellow
Governors.
In 1971, Governor Mandel was selected
by the Nation's Democratic Governors to
be Chairman of the Democratic Governors'
Conference. During the same period, he
served as Chairman of the Middle Atlantic
States Governors' Conference which he was
instrumental in organizing. In 1972, Gov-
ernor Mandel was chosen by all the Nation's
Governors to be Chairman of the bi-parti-
san National Governors' Conference after
having served on its seven-member Execu-
tive Committee. He also has served as
Chairman of the Southern Governors' Con-
ference Committee on Transportation,
Science and Technology and of its Energy
Committee.
He is a member of the Policy Council
of the Democratic National Committee and
was one of five Governors selected to act
as liaison among the Democratic Gover-
nors' Conference, the leadership of Con-
gress and the Democratic National
Committee.
In addition. Governor Mandel was se-
lected by his fellow Governors to serve on
the three-member National Governors' Con-
ference Permanent Subcommittee on Reve- |
nue Sharing. He also is the only Democratic
Governor among the three Governors chosen
to represent the National Governors' Con-
ference on the New Coalition of Governors,
Mayors and County Executives. He is a
former Chairman of the Council of State
Governments. Governor Mandel currently
is serving as a member of the Executive
Committee of the Democratic Governors'
Conference.
Eight colleges and universities in and
outside of Maryland have awarded Gover-
nor Mandel honorary doctorate degrees for
his leadership, and he was twice recipient of
the coveted Herbert Lehman Ethics Award.
Twice Governor Mandel was among a half-
dozen Governors chosen by the National
Governors' Conference and the U.S. State
Department to represent the United States
on official visits to Russia and to the
People's Republic of China.
Governor Mandel has served in public
office for 25 years. He came to the House
of Delegates in 1952 and served as Chair-
man of both the House Ways and Means
Committee and the Baltimore City Delega-
tion. He was elected Speaker of the House
of Delegates in 1963 and served in that
office until his General Assembly colleagues
elected him overwhelmingly to be Governor
on January 7,1969.
Governor Mandel's first official act was
to restore to the Medicaid rolls 22,000
medically indigent citizens who had been re-
moved by his predecessor. He began a
systematic reorganization of the Executive
Branch of State Government which during
his first two years in office consolidated
248 agencies and departments into 12 Cab-
inet departments headed by Secretaries.
Foremost among them was the Department
of Transportation which committed Mary-
land to the concept of a unified transporta-
tion system by funding rapid transit systems
in the Maryland suburbs around Washing-
ton and in Baltimore City. Through Mary-
land's single transportation fund, the only
one of its kind in the Nation, the State also
acquired Friendship Airport and immedi-
ately began a program to modernize and
expand the facility. Renamed the Baltimore-
Washington International Airport, the Air- |
