
Emmett Forest Branch (16 May 1874-23 February 1932) was the Republican Governor of Indiana from 30 April 1924 to 12 January 1925, succeeding Warren T. McCray and preceding Edward L. Jackson.
Biography[]
Emmett Forest Branch was born in Martinsville, Indiana, and he served as a lieutenant in the US Army during the Spanish-American War before becoming a lawyer in 1899. He served in the state house from 1902 to 1908 before returning to the Army as a lieutenant-colonel during World War I and the Border War, after which he served as Lieutenant Governor from 1921 to 1924 (banning gambling and liquor sales on Memorial Day) and as Governor from 1924 to 1925 on Warren T. McCray's removal from office by the Klan. Branch cried while taking the oath of office due to his close friend's imprisonment, and he continued the expansion of the state highway system and school for the blind, while completing the new state prison. He died in 1932.