When Vermont’s Flags Fly Low This Weekend, Remember Tom Salmon’s Quiet Victory
The former governor is remembered as a leader who never let politics eclipse the people, places, and values he served.
This weekend, flags across Vermont will be lowered to half-staff to honor the life of former Governor Thomas P. “Tom” Salmon, who passed away in January at age 92. Salmon’s career in public service spanned decades — from an unlikely upset in the 1972 gubernatorial race to leadership roles in Vermont business and higher education.
But perhaps the moment that best captures who he was didn’t take place in the Governor’s Office or on a campaign stage. It happened in his own yard, on the night he shocked the state.
The Football Game That Outshone the Headlines
On Election Night 1972, the political world was watching Vermont. Salmon had entered the race just weeks earlier, in August, in what many saw as a quixotic bid against the state’s Republican establishment. Yet the numbers rolling in told a different story — he was on track to pull off what would be called “the biggest political upset in Vermont history.”
Reporters, party leaders, and campaign staff waited for a victory appearance. But Salmon wasn’t at headquarters or at the Statehouse. He was at his Bellows Falls home, on the front porch, watching his 9-year-old son and a group of neighborhood kids play a pickup football game. He stayed there until the game — and the evening — ended.
It wasn’t a political calculation. It was simply who he was: a father, a neighbor, and a Vermonter first.
Protecting Vermont’s Land — and Its People
That grounded sense of responsibility followed Salmon into the Governor’s Office. Early in his tenure, he championed the “Vermont is not for sale” campaign, responding to fears of rampant land speculation by out-of-state investors. His administration enacted the state’s land gains tax, aimed at curbing quick-turnover profits on real estate and protecting Vermont’s rural character — a policy still in place today.
He also advanced property tax reforms to ensure homeowners would pay no more than a set percentage of their income in property taxes, a safeguard for working families that endures in state law.
Steering Through Hard Times
Salmon’s two terms were marked by national turbulence — post-Vietnam uncertainty, the Watergate scandal, energy shortages, inflation, and recession. He faced pushback when advocating for tax increases during a downturn, and not all of his initiatives succeeded. But he approached each challenge with what he described in his farewell address as gratitude for the privilege of service, saying: “The people of Vermont owe me nothing. I owe them everything.”
A Second Act of Service
Leaving the Governor’s Office didn’t mean stepping out of public life. Salmon chaired the board of Green Mountain Power for nearly two decades, helped found the Vermont Business Roundtable, and later became president of the University of Vermont, guiding the school through a period of instability. He also served on Middlebury College’s Board of Trustees, continuing a lifetime of civic engagement.
A Legacy in Lowered Flags
When you see Vermont’s flags lowered this weekend, it’s worth recalling not just the headlines or the legislative milestones, but also the man who spent the night of his greatest political triumph watching a backyard football game. In that image lies the essence of Tom Salmon — a leader who never let politics eclipse the people, places, and values he served.