JOHN HUBERT HALL was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended a military academy in Indiana as well as public schools in Portland. After serving as a medical corpsman in the U.S. Navy during World War I, he earned a degree in business administration from Oregon State College and then studied at Northwestern College of Law in Portland. In addition to practicing law, he won election to the Oregon House of Representatives five times. He became Speaker in 1947, and from that position succeeded to the governorship upon the death of Earl W. Snell in a plane crash. Hall served as governor for one year, losing the Republican nomination for election in his own right in 1948 to complete Snell’s unexpired term. After leaving office, he practiced law in Lincoln County and won election to a single term as District Court Judge. He died in Newport, Oregon.