Thomas Bahnson Stanley

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Thomas Bahnson Stanley (July 16, 1890 – July 10, 1970) was an American politician, manufacturer and Holstein cattle breeder. He was born to Crockett Stanley (1838 - 1915) and Susan Matilda Walker (1845 - 1922) on a farm near Spencer, Henry County, Virginia, youngest of seven children. He married Anne Pocahontas Bassett (November 28, 1898 - October 20, 1979) on October 24, 1918 in Bassett, Virginia. Anne was the daughter of John David Bassett (July 14, 1866 - February 26, 1965), a founder of Bassett Furniture, and Nancy Pocahontas Hundley (November 21, 1862 - January 11, 1953). He graduated from Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York in 1912. As the Democratic candidate he defeated Republican Theodore Roosevelt Dalton and Independent Howard Carwile in the general election for Governor of Virginia in 1953. He served as the Governor of Virginia from 1954 to 1958. Before becoming governor, Stanley was the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and a U.S. Representative in Congress from November 5, 1946, filling vacancy created when Thomas G. Burch resigned to assume U. S. Senate seat, until he resigned on February 3, 1953 to run for governor of Virginia. As governor he improved the administration of state hospitals and increased funding to mental hospitals and public schools.

Stanley's term as governor also experienced significant governmental conflicts. The budget fight between the Old Guard and the Young Turks over budget surpluses in the 1954 legislative session colored relations in the Democratic Party for a generation. Brown v. Board of Education was decided during his term, and his initial efforts to move slowly to integration were abruptly terminated by U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, Sr., and his anti-integration Massive Resistance campaign.

Thomas Stanley founded the leading Virginia furniture maker Stanley Furniture in 1924 in what would become Stanleytown, Virginia. He had previously been an executive at Bassett Furniture Company in Bassett, Virginia. His sons Thomas Bahnson Stanley, Jr. and John David Stanley joined him at Stanley Furniture. He died in Martinsville, Virginia on July 10, 1970 and was buried in Roselawn Burial Park.

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Preceded by John S. Battle	Governor of Virginia 1954–1958	Succeeded by James Lindsay Almond, Jr.

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