h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

US politician Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash on October 25th, 2002. He was state Senator for Minnesota, representing the Democratic Party. He died in the midst of an election campaign.

His death was untimely in pretty much every way. Had the accident occurred earlier, the follow-up candidate would have had a chance to establish himself. Had the accident occurred just a week or so later, the election would have had to be postponed, again giving the follow-up candidate time to make himself known.

Y.

Hi Yelbakk,

Many thanks for the feedback.

Yes, there were far too many US politicians to mention, so I decided to concentrate on heads of state for this article. As well as Wellstone, I found these:

Jul 6, 1918 John Purroy Mitchell, former Mayor of New York City. (First politician to die in an aviation-related accident)
May 28, 1921 Maurice Connolly, former U.S. Congressman from Iowa.
May 1, 1928 Thaddeus C. Sweet, New York U.S. Rep.
Dec 20, 1929 William Kaynor, Massachusetts U.S. Rep.
May 6, 1935 Bronson M. Cutting, New Mexico Senator
Aug 31, 1940 Ernest Lundeen, Minnesota U.S. Senator
Feb 27, 1941 William Byron, Maryland U.S. Rep.
ep 21, 1943 John William Ditter, Pennsylvania U.S. Rep
Oct 28, 1947 Earl Snell, Governor of Oregon
Apr 20, 1949 Robert Coffey Jr.,Pennsylvania U.S. Rep.
Nov 1, 1949 George Bates, Massachusetts U.S. Rep. & Michael Kennedy, New York U.S. Rep.
Nov 30, 1953 Kimber "Kim" Sigler, Former Governor of Michigan
Jan 25, 1962 Donald Nutter, Governor of Montana
Oct 7, 1962 Clement Miller, California U.S. Rep.
Oct 16, 1972 Hale Boggs, Louisiana U.S. Rep. & Nick Begich, Alaska U.S. Rep.
Dec 8, 1972 George Collins, Illinois U.S. Rep.
Feb 14, 1975 Jerry Pettis, California U.S. Rep.
Aug 3, 1976 Jerry Litton, Missouri U.S. Rep.
Nov 18, 1978 Leo Ryan, 1978, U.S. Congressman from California (not an air crash as such, but "air-related")
Sep 1, 1983 Lawrence McDonald, Georgia U.S. Rep.
Apr ?, 1988 James Waltermire, Secretary of State of Montana
Aug 7, 1989 George Thomas "Mickey" Leland, Texas U.S. Rep.
Aug 13, 1989 Larkin Smith, Mississippi U.S. Rep.
Apr 4, 1991 H. John Heinz III, Pennsylvania Senator
Apr 5, 1991 John Tower, Texas Senator
Apr 19, 1993 George Mickelson, South Dakota Governor
Apr 3, 1996 Ron Brown, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Aug 4, 2000 Thomas Allgood Sr., former Georgia State Senator
Oct 6, 2000 Charles B. Yates, former state Senator from New Jersey
Oct 12, 2000 Gary McPherson, Colorado state Rep.
Oct 16, 2000 Mel Carnahan, Governor of Missouri

I intend to mention Leo Ryan in a future article.

Icy