Howard Mason Gore served briefly as the United States Secretary of Agriculture at the very end of the first presidential administration of Calvin Coolidge . He himself was the successful candidate for Governor of West Virginia on that same election day and moved immediately to that office when relinquishing his Secretaryship on the day that he was inaugurated and President Coolidge was re-inaugurated. He served as the 17th Governor of West Virginia from 1925 to 1929. He married Roxie Bailey in 1906; she died on March 7, 1907, and he remained a widower.
| Birthdate: | October 12, 1877 |
| Birthplace: | Harrison County, West Virginia |
| Date of death: | June 20, 1947 |
| Religion: | Baptist |