Howard Mason Gore was born on October 12, 1887, in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He received his BA from the West Virginia College of Agriculture. He served as an assistant in the Food Administration for West Virginia during World War I (1917-1919). He was also on the State Board of Education for West Virginia (1922-1924). During that time, President Coolidge appointed him assistant secretary of agriculture on September 17, 1923, and he became secretary of agriculture upon the death of Secretary Henry C. Wallace in 1924. In 1925, Gore resigned to serve as governor of West Virginia from 1925 to 1929. He was appointed West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture in 1931 and later served as state director of the Rural Revitalization program. He was a member of the West Virginia Public Service Commission from 1941 to 1947. He was employed by the Farm Security Administration during President Franklin Roosevelt’s first term. Gore died on June 20, 1947.