Instead of building a wall around the mansion, SD Gov. Noem should try to break down barriers and [View all]

Instead of building a wall around the mansion, SD Gov. Noem should try to break down barriers and talk with people


In the spring of 1993, Gov. George S. Mickelson, a well-liked Republican who had worked for reconciliation between South Dakota and the nine Indian tribes within its borders, lost his life when his plane crashed in Iowa.

He was returning home from a meeting with corporate executives in an effort to save the John Morrell meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls. It was a dark time for South Dakota, and Indian and non-Indian South Dakotans paid their respects as his casket moved across the state.

Suddenly, Walter Dale Miller became governor. A taciturn conservative cowboy from New Underwood, Miller had served for years in the state legislature but lacked charisma. As governor, he did immediately make a dramatic gesture when he opened the governor's mansion one weekend for public inspection.

South Dakotans stood in line to walk through the house that had been built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936 and ultimately housed 16 of our governors. While not as opulent as its counterparts in other states, the mansion next to Capitol Lake in Pierre certainly served its purpose. Richard Kneip, a Salem Democrat and devout Catholic, raised eight sons there.

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