By Michael Patrick O’Brien–
If you ever doubt that history is fascinating and ever-changing, consider that at this time a century ago, Utah’s governor was a Democrat, a non-Mormon, and an FDR progressive.
George Henry Dern (1872-1936) was born in Nebraska and later captained the Cornhusker football team. He moved to Utah in 1894, however, when his father became president of the Mercur Gold Mine Company in Tooele County.
Dern went to work for the same company. He quickly advanced from bookkeeper to company treasurer and then, in 1901, to general manager.
After serving two terms as a state senator representing Salt Lake County, Dern won the 1924 Democratic Party nomination for governor, running against the incumbent Charles Mabey. His winning slogan was: “We need a Dern good governor, and not Mabey.”
In two terms as only the second non-Mormon governor, Dern reformed the state tax system, fought for Utah’s fair share of the Colorado River water, and worked to improve education and social welfare programs.
Dern was well-liked in both political parties. He won election and reelection even as Utah voters chose Republicans (Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover) for national office.
Dern’s fellow governors liked him too, and chose him to serve as chairman of the National Governor’s Conference from 1929 to 1930. In that role, he became friends with Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the New York governor. (FDR and Dern sit together in a car in the Library of Congress photo used in this article.)
Dern backed Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential campaign. In 1933, after FDR won the race, he appointed Dern as the Secretary of War.
Dern was the first Utahn to serve in a presidential cabinet post. Only six others (including former governors Mike Leavitt and Jon M. Huntsman) have done so.
Dern promoted greater efficiency and readiness in the defense department and called for a military structure that could be expanded quickly and easily in a crisis. His work helped prepare the nation for WWII, which was just around the corner.
Dern died from compilations related to influenza in August 1936 at age 63. After a funeral at the Mount Pleasant Congregationalist Church in Washington, D.C., a train brought his body back home to Salt Lake City where he lay in state at the Capitol building.
FDR interrupted another trip to come to Salt Lake City and honor Dern. His special presidential Pullman train car—after pausing for six hours near Morgan, Utah—arrived on the morning of the local services.
A solemn car procession brought the president from the train station through downtown to the historic Latter-Day Saint Tabernacle. Dern’s longtime pastor spoke and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang at the short service.
The president sat by Dern’s widow at the Mt. Olivet graveside services, returned to his train afterwards, and left following a brief meeting with Governor Henry Blood. It turned out to be his last trip to Utah.
Dern was married to Charlotte Brown. They had 5 children together.
Ironically, Dern is not the most famous member of his extended family. His son married the niece of the poet Archibald McLeish.
The Derns’ grandson is actor Bruce Dern, nominated for two Oscars. Their great granddaughter—actress Laura Dern—has won both an Oscar and an Emmy for her acting.
Bruce infamously played a villain (in the 1972 movie The Cowboys) who kills a John Wayne character on screen, one of the few times that happened in the movies. Bruce claims that he still gets a negative reaction from fans about the role.
The Hall of Governors on the first floor of the Utah State Capitol includes George Dern’s official portrait, but otherwise he has largely been forgotten by his fellow Utahns. FDR’s written tribute—released just after Dern died—reminds us why we should remember his friend and fellow public servant:
“An upright, able and honest public servant is lost to our national life in the death of Secretary Dern. Quiet and unassuming, he mastered with singular thoroughness all of the varied problems which fall within the jurisdiction of the War Department and administered his office with tact, discretion and good judgment. The Army of the United States has lost a devoted leader. For many years George Dern and I have been close associates, first as Governors of our respective States, and lately, for nearly four years, in Washington. I am deeply grieved that he has left us.”
*Mike O’Brien (author website here) is a writer and attorney living in Salt Lake City, Utah. Paraclete Press published his book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, in August 2021. The League of Utah Writers chose it as the best non-fiction book of 2022. Mike’s new holiday novel, tentatively titled “The Merry Matchmaker Monks,” will be published in time for Christmas 2026.
