Snell was born on a farm near the small town of Olex, Oregon. He grew up in Arlington.[3] He received a public school education, and attended the Oregon Institute of Technology [3] without attaining a degree (this Oregon Institute of Technology was located in Portland, a private institution, and not connected to the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls). He became a partner in Arlington's automobile dealership.[3] After military service during World War I, he settled in nearby Condon, where he married Edith Welshons, with whom he had one son, and published the local newspaper. He became sole owner of the auto dealership in Arlington,[3] and it was his principal livelihood for the rest of his life. He later expanded his business interests to include ranching and banking.
In a WUGA TV interview with well known musician Doc Severinsen, Severinsen—who is from Arlington—reported that he used to live with Snell and his wife during the summers as a boy. Doc stated Snell gave him his first instrument (an army bugle) and strongly influenced him. Snell would also sometimes take Doc down to the Capital building when he was governor.
Prevented by a term limit from seeking another term as Secretary of State, Snell decided to challenge his own party's incumbent Gov. Charles A. Sprague in the Republican primary.[3] He received strong support from the state automobile dealers association, gained the nomination, and went on to be elected Governor with 78 percent of the vote, taking office on January 11, 1943.
Snell's administration was marked by conservationist measures, public works projects and relief programs in line with the federal New Deal programs, and initiatives designed to promote agricultural, timber and industrial interests to expand Oregon's economy. He was re-elected in 1946,[1][3] by a margin of more than two to one, but died in office the next year.
Snell was a staunch supporter of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1944, he sponsored a law aimed at Issei and Nisei returnees, which would have denied Japanese-born non-citizens the right to own or lease land. It also would've prosecuted landowning Japanese-American citizens for allowing others of Japanese descent, including their parents, to occupy or work the land. The law easily passed through the Oregon legislature, but was ruled unconstitutional by the courts.[4]
