John S. Fine (1893-1978)
Nanticoke, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Governor of Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1955 after serving as county and state judge. His inauguration was the first to be televised. His administration instituted the first permanent sales tax, ended segregation in the National Guard, and opened the State Police to African Americans. Fine initiated improvements in health care, raising the state's national ranking. He was born in Alden and was a graduate of Nanticoke High School.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
John S. Fine rose from the coal country around Nanticoke through the courts to the governorship of Pennsylvania in the early 1950s. His administration modernized the state in ways large and small, from the first televised inauguration to its first permanent sales tax. Notably, he ended segregation in the Pennsylvania National Guard and opened the State Police to African American troopers, early steps toward integration in the postwar North.
Why it matters
Fine's desegregation of state institutions placed Pennsylvania among the northern states chipping away at official racial barriers years before the national civil rights movement crested.
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