Francis Williams Sargent (July 29, 1915 – October 22, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Massachusetts from 1969 to 1975.

[citation needed] Sargent was a student in the architecture program (class of 1939) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a classmate and friend of architect I.M.

Sargent received a special degree in architecture after completing four years of what was then a five-year program, rather than a normal graduation.

[3] Sargent served in World War II, fighting in Italy, earned a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.

He enlisted in 1942, volunteered for the ski troops, and rose from private to corporal to sergeant to lieutenant to captain while serving with the 10th Mountain Division in Italy.

[3] After the war, Sargent moved with his family to Orleans on Cape Cod, where he and his son started and ran the Goose Hummock sporting goods store, beginning in 1946.

[3] In 1966, Sargent ran for and was elected as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts with the slogan "Put Sarge in Charge".

[7] In 1970, Sargent won the gubernatorial election in his own right, defeating Boston Mayor Kevin White.

[8] Sargent retired from politics after running for reelection and being defeated by Democrat Michael Dukakis in the 1974 gubernatorial election.

Sargent went on to speak of Chief Justice Hale and his five associates, "I have sought individuals who have a proven record of outstanding legal accomplishment, wisdom and good judgment.

He called the creation of the Appeals Court "the single most significant step in judicial reform in Massachusetts this century.

"[12] Sargent was an avid fisherman on Cape Cod and became interested in the environment because he was frustrated by overfishing and the use of illegal nets.

[13] Sargent achieved renown among conservationists and advocates of a multi-modal urban transportation system by canceling most highway construction inside Route 128, with the exception of the Northern Expressway in 1970.

Sargent became a strong advocate for changing the federal laws governing aid to states for highway construction so that more funds were available for mass transit projects such as subways and light-rail vehicles.

That came out of that decision and another component of the same decision – you can go check that speech that Frank Sargent gave – was that the only highways that would continue to be studied within Route 128 would be the depression and widening of the Central Artery and the extension of I-90 over to Logan in an additional tunnel, the two components that are today called the Big Dig.

[15]Sargent also called in Alan A. Altshuler, a political science professor at MIT take a new look at where we were headed in transportation policy.

[16] After Sargent was defeated in the election of 1974, he accepted an appointment as a senior lecturer at the Joint MIT-Harvard Center for Urban Studies.

In 1969, she helped to launch the Doric Dame, a group of volunteers that led tours of the Massachusetts State House.

[19] In 1996, Sargent's son was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives seat in Massachusetts's 10th congressional district in 1996.