Oliver Max Gardner (22 March 1882-6 February 1947) was the Democratic Governor of North Carolina from 11 January 1929 to 5 January 1933, succeeding Angus Wilton McLean and preceding John C.B. Ehringhaus.
Biography[]
Oliver Max Gardner was born in Shelby, North Carolina in 1882, and he distinguished himself as a college football player at Clemson University before teaching organic chemistry there. He later taught at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as served as captain of the football team, and he returned to Shelby to practice law before serving in the State Senate, as Lieutenant Governor from 1917 to 1921, as Governor from 1929 to 1933, and as Under Secretary of the Treasury from 1946 to 1947. He attempted to cut government costs and property taxes to resolve the Great Depression, and he took a pro-business and anti-union stance as Governor. His faction of the Democratic Party controlled state politics until 1948, a year after his death.