Arthur C. Mellette, 1889-93 
Charles H. Sheldon, 1893-97 
Andrew E. Lee, 1897-1901 
Charles N. Herreid, 1901-05 
Samuel H. Elrod, 1905-07 
Coe I. Crawford, 1907-09 
Robert S. Vessey, 1909-13 
Frank M. Byrne, 1913-17 
Peter Norbeck, 1917-21 
William H. McMaster, 1921-25 
Carl Gunderson, 1925-27 
W. J. Bulow, 1927-31 
Warren E. Green, 1931-33 
Tom Berry, 1933-37 
Leslie Jensen, 1937-39 
Harlan J. Bushfield, 1939-43 
M. Q. Sharpe, 1943-47 
George T. Mickelson, 1947-51 
Sigurd Anderson, 1951-55 
Joe Foss, 1955-59 
Ralph Herseth, 1959-61 
Archie Gubbrud, 1961-65 
Nils A. Boe, 1965-69 
Frank Farrar, 1969-71 
Richard F. Kneip, 1971-78 
Harvey Wollman, 1978-79 
William J. Janklow, 1979-87, 1995-2003 
George S. Mickelson, 1987-93 
Walter Dale Miller, 1993-95 
M. Michael Rounds, 2003-11 
Dennis Daugaard, 2011-19 
Kristi Noem, 2019-25 
Larry Rhoden, 2025-present
Recently, Gov. Kristi Noem signed her first bill as governor. A governor’s signature can have significant legal effect. With the stroke of a pen, a bill can become state law, a criminal sentence can be erased, and a justice can be appointed to the South Dakota Supreme Court. Above is a gallery of the signatures of each of South Dakota’s governors, taken from documents available at the South Dakota State Archives.
SoDak Governors 