Goodwin Jess "Goodie" Knight (December 9, 1896 – May 22, 1970) was an American politician and judge who served as the 31st governor of California from 1953 to 1959.

Upon Warren's appointment as Chief Justice of the United States by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Knight assumed the governorship before being elected in his own right in 1954.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Knight was a judge of the Superior Court in Los Angeles beginning in 1935.

While Lieutenant Governor, he made a guest appearance on Jack Benny's radio show which aired on May 10, 1953, an episode from San Francisco.

[2] As governor, Knight fought for control of the Republican Party of California with U.S. Senate Majority Leader William Knowland and Vice President Richard Nixon.

In November 1957, induced by Norman Chandler (GOP-friendly publisher of The Los Angeles Times), old enemy Nixon and President Dwight Eisenhower (among others), Knight announced he would run for Knowland's Senate seat instead of running for governor again as a way to prevent a tough fight between two California Republicans in a political race.

This left Nixon in control of the California party and in line for the presidential nomination, which Knowland and Knight had also desired.

Knight was present at the July 17, 1955, opening of Disneyland, and gave a speech following Walt Disney's famous dedication.

She took her life by carbon monoxide asphyxiation from her car in the garage of her home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and left behind two sons, Jonathan and Robert Weedman.

[6] Goodwin Knight's funeral took place in Saint James Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, with full military honors.

Knight was initially interred at Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, but one year later disinterred and his remains moved to Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California after his second wife, Virginia Knight, learned he had purchased a crypt next to his first wife, Arvilla.