Governor Thomas Gordon McLeod

THOMAS GORDON MC LEOD was born in Lynchburg, South Carolina. He graduated from Wofford College in 1892, studied law, and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1896, after which he began a private law practice in Bishopville. He served for two years in the South Carolina House of Representatives and for four years in the South Carolina Senate, after which he was Lieutenant Governor from 1907 until 1911. McLeod was elected governor more than a decade later, and although he took office during an agricultural depression, he sought increased support for education and a more equitable general property tax. Tax reform was in fact a special interest of the governor’s, but the state legislature failed to pass many of the recommendations for reform that had resulted from a tax convention held in 1925. McLeod was reelected for a second term, and during his final year in office, the state constitution was amended to permit four-year gubernatorial terms. He was ineligible for reelection, however, and after leaving office he went on to serve as district manager of the Life and Casualty Insurance Company of Nashville, Director of the Bishopville National Bank, and President of the Bishopville Telephone Company.