Terry Branstad

Terry married the beautiful Christine Johnson in June, 1972. Christine was professionally a medical assistant and in her youth she often volunteered at hospitals and schools.

They have three children, the eldest is Eric, followed by Allison and then Marcus. All his children are now married, making him a proud grandfather of seven grandchildren.

Terry has successfully kept his family away from any controversies or spotlight while he has been in and out of politics.

On November 17th 1946, he was born in Leland, Iowa to a mother of Jewish descent named Rita L. Garland and Edward Arnold Branstad, who was a farmer of Norwegian American Lutheran descent.

He wasn’t well off as a boy, he was raised as a Lutheran by his parents, until he converted to a Catholic later on.

In 1965, he completed high school from ‘Forest City High School’. He had been a bright student all through his school life and he went on to pursue further education.

In 1969, he achieved an undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa, after which he immediately joined national service by enrolling in the U.S. Army Military Police for a span of two years.

Until 1971 he worked as a military policeman at Fort Bragg, one of America’s largest military base in terms of population for which he received a medal on account of merit.

In 1972, things took a political turn for Branstad, he was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives, where he represented his hometown along with the whole of north-central Iowa district.

He managed to supersede two strong Republican contenders in the Primary election becoming Iowa’s lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1983.

When he was thirty six, he was elected Governor after running down Democrat, Roxanne Conlin. He was titled the youngest chief executive in all of Iowa’s history in 1983.

From 1983-1999, he served a period of four terms to become the only Iowa governor to stay in office for such a long period of time.

During this phase he bolstered Iowa and retrieved it from crisis. He played a major role in helping to reduce the effect of economic recession in Iowa. He also dealt with the infamous farm crisis of the 80’s.

In 1985 in order to bring an end to the farm crisis he decared an economic emergency, wherein a limited ban was initiated on farm foreclosures. The next year he reduced state agencies and vested the power to appoint their directors in the Governor alone.

However, all wasn’t rosy for him, in his first year he was hit with a major setback, when he found that the state budget had a deficit of 90 million dollars. Yet with his ability to turn the tables, he brought Iowa back on its feet, and made its economy thrive.