Dalton won the office with 55.9% of the vote, defeating Democrat Henry E. Howell Jr. and Independent Alan R. Ogden.

He also settled the federal lawsuit on the desegregation of Virginia's institutions of higher education.

As a young man his next-door neighbor was Charlotte Giesen, first Republican woman elected to the House of Delegates.

[citation needed] His personal papers, including those from his time as governor, are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.

[citation needed] Dalton's son-in-law, Steve Baril, sought the 2005 Republican nomination for attorney general of Virginia.