American Politician Plane Fatalities Fast Facts

This is a list of prominent American politicians killed in plane crashes.

May 1, 1928 - New York Rep. Thaddeus C. Sweet (R). Sweet is killed in an airplane accident in Broome County, New York.

October 28, 1947 - Oregon Governor Earl Snell (R). Snell dies in a plane crash during stormy weather near Klamath Falls, Oregon.

January 25, 1962 - Montana Governor Donald Nutter (R). Nutter dies in a plane crash during a snowstorm.

October 16, 1972 - House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, Louisiana (D) and Rep. Nick Begich, Alaska (D). Both are aboard a plane that vanishes from the radar in bad weather over Alaska. The wreckage is never found.

December 8, 1972 - Illinois Rep. George W. Collins (D). Collins is killed when a United Airlines jetliner plane crashes on approach to Chicago's Midway Airport. Forty-four others are killed. Collins' widow, Cardiss Collins, succeeds her husband in the House.

February 14, 1975 - California Rep. Jerry Pettis (R). Pettis, a former military pilot, dies while flying his private plane. The aircraft crashes into a mountain near Banning, California. His wife, Shirley N. Pettis Roberson, replaces him in the House five days later.