Clifford Hansen

In 2006, Hansen said in an interview that he and his wife were in "pretty good health" considering their ages, though he had vision difficulties; so they had retained a driver. By mid-October 2009, Hansen fell severely ill because of complications from a broken pelvis. After a short time in the hospital, he returned home to be with Martha, his wife of more than seventy-five years, whom he had met at UW in Laramie. Theirs was the longest active marriage of a present or former U.S. senator. Hansen's prognosis was poor, and he died on October 20, four days after his 97th birthday. In addition to his wife and son, Hansen was also survived by a brother, Robert Hansen, and a sister, Ordeen Hansen, five grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.

Upon the death of former Republican Senator Hiram L. Fong of Hawaii in August 2004, Hansen became the oldest living person to have served in the United States Senate.

In 1995, Hansen was inducted, along with the Texas artist and illustrator Thomas C. Lea, III, into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as a "Great Westerner."

In 1995, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Hansen resigned his Senate seat on December 31, 1978. Alan Simpson would later become the Senate Republican whip. At the Hansen funeral, Alan Simpson paid tribute, accordingly: "I owe him much. All of Wyoming and the nation owe him much. . . . He was a dear and special man who gave much and asked very little, and fought on always with integrity, courage, and an uncommon degree of common sense. God bless his soul."

In 1976, Hansen supported the renomination and reelection of President Gerald R. Ford Jr., who won Wyoming's three electoral votes. Hansen retired from the Senate in 1978, when he declined to run for a third term. He moved back to Jackson and served on the Senate Finance Committee under chairman Russell B. Long.

In 1972, Hansen was reelected to the Senate over Democrat Mike Vinich: 101,314 votes (71.3 percent) to 40,753 (28.7 percent).

Hansen voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Hansen's grandson, Matthew H. "Matt" Mead (born March 1, 1962), served as the United States Attorney in Cheyenne from 2001 to 2007, as an appointee of U.S. President George W. Bush. In 2007, he resigned as the U.S. Attorney to seek the seat of the late U.S. Senator Craig Thomas. However, the Wyoming Republican State Central Committee bypassed Mead on the third and final ballot. He came within fourteen votes of being one of the three nominees from which Governor Freudenthal (D) would make the final selection to fill the Thomas vacancy until the 2008 general election. In 2010, Mead was elected governor of Wyoming, re-elected in 2014, and served as the 32nd Governor of Wyoming (2011–2019).

Hansen won the governorship in the 1962 mid-term elections by 10,000 votes. He unseated the Democrat Jack R. Gage, who had served fewer than two years. First, Hansen won the GOP primary over two opponents with 57 percent of the ballots. Gage defeated William Jack to secure the Democratic nomination, 55.5-44.5 percent. In the general election, Hansen polled 64,970 votes (54.5 percent) to Gage's 54,298 (45.5 percent).

Hansen obtained his bachelor's degree in animal science from UW in 1934. While at the university he was in the Epsilon Delta chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity. He was a UW trustee from 1946 to 1966 and was the trustee board president from 1955 until 1962, when he resigned to run for governor. From 1943-1951, he was a Teton county commissioner. From 1953-1955 he served as the president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.

In 1934, Hansen married the former Martha Close (June 5, 1914 – September 29, 2011), who was raised in Sheridan, Wyoming. The two met at the University of Wyoming.

Clifford Peter Hansen (October 16, 1912 – October 20, 2009) was an American politician from the state of Wyoming. A Republican, he served as the 26th Governor of Wyoming (January 7, 1963 – January 2, 1967) and subsequently as a United States senator (January 3, 1967 – December 31, 1978). He served as a member of the board of trustees from 1946-1966 to his alma mater, the University of Wyoming located in Laramie. He was also a county commissioner in Jackson, the seat of Teton County in northwestern Wyoming. Before his death on October 20, 2009, he was the oldest living former U.S. Senator as well as the third oldest living former U.S. Governor.