MAIN MENU Home WWII Veterans Allied Leaders Axis Leaders   HOLOCAUST Camps Experiments Photos   NUREMBERG Main Trials Doctor Trials Einsatzgruppen   TIMELINE 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945   MISC. Music Actors Awards Trivia   CONTACT US E-Mail Guestbook

Charles Clifton Finch Branch of Service: U.S. Army Hometown: Pope, MS Honored By: Mike W. Reeser            Biography Charles Clifton Finch was born at Pope in Panola County, Mississippi, on April 4, 1927. He was the oldest of five children. When he was 18 years old, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. During WWII he was in the 88th Infantry Division. After serving in the Italian Campaign, he signed on with a construction company and spent a year doing heavy construction work in Guam. Finch then worked his way through the University of Mississippi. After graduating from the Law School at the University of Mississippi in 1958, he opened a law office in Batesville, MS. In 1960, Finch was elected to the state House of Representatives. He was elected District Attorney for the 17th judicial district in 1964, and re-elected again in 1968. His first statewide race for Lieutenant Governor in 1971 was unsuccessful. In 1975, Finch organized a very strong coalition of blacks and working class whites, and conducted a populist campaign for Governor. He won the Democratic nomination in the general election, narrowly defeating Gil Carmichael, the Republican candidate, and Henry Kirksey, a black independent. During his administration, he succeeded in saving the state's savings and loan industry from collapse, and worked with lawmakers to provide flood relief after spring floods in 1979. In 1978, Senator James Eastland retired from his U.S. Senate post, a position he had held since 1941. Although he still had 2 years remaining on his gubernatorial term, Governor Finch ran for the Senate seat in 1979. He was eliminated in the Democratic primary. The Senate post was won in the general election by Republican Thad Cochran, who defeated Maurice Dantin, the Democratic candidate, and Henry Kirksey, a black independent. Shortly before his term ended, Governor Finch entered the Presidential election in 1980. He ran in the New Hampshire primary but didn't gain much support and withdrew from the campaign soon after the primary. After leaving office, Governor Finch returned to his law practice in Batesville which he continued until his death on April 22, 1986.