John W. Brown is Ohio's longest serving lieutenant governor, having served under three different governors from 1953 to 1957 and 1963 to 1975. In 1952, he unseated the incumbent lieutenant governor, Democrat George D. Nye, and took office in 1953.. Brown defeated Nye again in 1954 to win a second two-year term. In 1956, instead of seeking another term as lieutenant governor, Brown ran for the gubernatorial nomination against state Attorney General C. William O'Neill. Brown lost badly in the primary, getting only 27.5% of the vote to O'Neill's 72.5%.
In January 1957, as Brown was about to leave the lieutenant governorship, Frank J. Lausche, the Democratic governor of Ohio, resigned to take a seat in the United States Senate, which he had won in the 1956 general election. Brown, thus, was elevated to the office of governor. Lausche's successor, C. William O'Neill, had already been elected, at the same time that Lausche won his Senate seat; however, at the time, the U.S. Senate term began on January 3, but the Ohio gubernatorial term did not end until January 14. Into the breach stepped the outgoing lieutenant governor. Brown took his eleven-day-long governorship very seriously. He moved into the governor's mansion, summoned the General Assembly to hear his state of the state address, demanded and received the governor's salary for the eleven days, and deposited five boxes of gubernatorial papers with the Ohio Historical Society. Among papers was a letter, on gubernatorial letter-head, to Columbus mayor M. E. Sensenbrenner, asking him to take care of a parking ticket. There was also a letter to then-President Eisenhower asking for a federal job after his eleven days in the governor's office were complete.
Later career
In 1958, Brown was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served from 1959 to 1961. He won election to the lieutenant governorship again in 1962, and served another three terms, from 1963 to 1975. In 1974, Brown lost his bid for another term to Richard F. Celeste. After serving as lieutenant governor, Brown worked to reactivate, and became the first commandant of, the Ohio Naval Militia.
Legacy
Brown Arena at the Ohio Expo Center and State Fair in Columbus, Ohio, is named in honor of Brown.
