Henry Bellmon, was a former Oklahoma governor and United States senator who took a judicious approach to conservative politics and who was a leading figure in Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign.
Mr. Bellmon was the first Republican governor of Oklahoma elected in 1963 since it became a state in 1907.
He was invited to the White House at the end of the Nixon presidency, along with about 20 other Nixon supporters, on the afternoon of Aug. 8, 1974. There the president informed them that he would go on television that night to announce his decision to resign the next day, to avoid impeachment because of the Watergate scandal.
Bellmon had been serving as the national chairman of the Nixon for President Committee when he resigned to run for the Senate.
Bellmon did not play any role in Nixon impeachment trial due to his moderate positions that put him at odds with the largely conservative Oklahoma Republican Party.
