SC Governors – Richard Irvine Manning III, 1915-1919

Biographical Overview

• Born: August 15, 1859 in Sumter County, South Carolina
  
• Died: September 11, 1931 in Columbia, South Carolina
  
• Buried: Trinity Episcopal churchyard in Columbia, SC
  
• Religion: Episcopalian
  
• Political Party: Democrat
  

Education

• University of Virginia - 1877-1879
  

Occupations

• Banker
• Businessman

Major Events and Accomplishments, 1st Term, 1915–1917

• 1915 – South Carolina citizens voted in a referendum to establish a prohibition on the sale of all alcoholic beverages
  
• 1915 – Birth of a Nation, a film portraying of South Carolina in the Reconstruction-era, premiered
  
• February 20, 1915 – The General Assembly passed the state's first compulsory education legislation
  
• February 29, 1916 – The General Assembly passed a child labor law that raised the minimum age for employment to fourteen
  

Major Events and Accomplishments, 2nd Term, 1917–1919

• 1917 – The boll weevil entered South Carolina
  
• February 27, 1917 – The state's first chapter of the NAACP was founded in Charleston
  
• April 6, 1917 – The United States entered World War I
  
• May 18, 1917 – The US Congress passed the Selective Service Act and 307,350 South Carolinians registered for the draft during the course of the war
  
• February 14, 1918 – The General Assembly passed legislation allowing women to practice law
  
• September-December 1918 – A Spanish Influenza epidemic killed 7,400 South Carolinians
  
• November 11, 1918 – World War I ended
  

Other Government Positions

• South Carolina House of Representatives, 1892-1896
  
• South Carolina Senate, 1898-1906
  

Other Accomplishments, Honors, Distinctions

• Richard Irvine Manning III was the grandson of Richard Irvine Manning, governor of South Carolina from 1824-1826
  
• Gilman Plantation was Manning's home
  

Election Results, 1st Term

• On November 3, 1914, Manning was elected governor without opposition, receiving 34,600 votes
  

Election Results, 2nd Term

• On November 7, 1916, Governor Manning was reelected without opposition, receiving 60,396 votes
  

Web Resources

• Listing of records available at SC Archives and History Center