Charles Sampson (Napoleon's World)

Charles Garver Sampson (November 18, 1892 - October 7, 1973) was an American Nationalist politician and the powerful Governor of Huron on two occasions; 1947-1951 and 1955-1959. As Governor of Huron, Sampson emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s as the leader of the conservative, isolationist wing of the Nationalist Party, sparring with powerful Nationalist leaders such as President Prescott Bush, and most memorably against 1956 Nationalist nominee George Cabot, against whom he briefly launched a primary challenge to prevent what he called "the coronation of an appeaser, an adventurist and an unpatriotic performer." Sampson and Cabot never reconciled and he was shunned by Nationalist leadership in the 1960s, with blame for Cabot's loss in the election being turned towards him. After the isolationists in the National Party were stamped out during the Hoover and Van Dyke administrations and a new generation of Nationalists emerged in his home state, Sampson saw his oft-oversized influence diminish until his death of heart attack at the age of 80 in 1973.