[3] He settled in Ketchum (adjacent to Sun Valley since 1936), where he worked as a mail carrier and subsequently engaged in the firewood and charcoal business.

[7] Gooding had a reputation for having an off-putting and abrasive personality, and often clashed with others in the Republican Party, notably progressive Senator William Borah.

Gooding came to national attention during the trial phase of the conspiracy prosecution of three leaders of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), charged with the assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg.

"[10] McParland's first order was to have Orchard transferred from the relatively comfortable Caldwell jail to death row in the Boise penitentiary, before any trial had occurred.

[13] McParland then had WFM leaders Bill Haywood, Charles Moyer, and George Pettibone arrested in Colorado, using extradition papers which falsely claimed that the three men had been present at Steunenberg's murder.

In his book Big Trouble, J. Anthony Lukas recorded that with the use of these certificates, In effect, the bank acted as a mere conduit for the passage of money from the mining industry to the state for use in the Haywood prosecution.

Upon hearing of this circumstance, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a particularly stern rebuke to Governor Gooding, describing such a state of affairs as the "grossest impropriety."

If the Governor or the other officials of Idaho accept a cent from the operators or from any other capitalist with any reference, direct or indirect, to this prosecution, they would forfeit the respect of every good citizen and I should personally feel that they had committed a real crime.

[17] Governor Gooding's response to the President provided a "severely distorted" account of the financial arrangements for the trial, shifted the blame to others, and promised to return money contributed by the mine owners.

Gooding then: ...kept the narrowest construction of his promise to the president... [He then proclaimed publicly and often that no] dollar has been or will be supplied from any private source or organization whatsoever, [and then] went right on taking money from the mine owners.

[20][21] In 1918, Gooding was the Republican nominee in a special U.S. Senate election to complete the term of James H. Brady, who died in office early in the year.

[22][23] He took office in mid-January 1921, seven weeks early,[24] as Nugent resigned to accept a late-term appointment by outgoing President Woodrow Wilson to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Source:[22][30] Gooding had been in ill health with cancer for several months in 1928 and was recuperating from surgery performed in May at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.