People from Radford who held notable public roles included Charlotte "Pinkie" Milton Caldwell Giesen in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1958 to 1962; James Hoge Tyler as Governor of Virginia from 1898 to 1902; Gabriel Colvin Wharton as a brigadier general from 1861 to 1865; Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt Dalton as a Virginia senator from 1944 to 1959; John Nichols Dalton as a Virginia delegate, senator, and governor from 1963 to 1982; Margaret Louise Tarte Duncan as Radford mayor from 1972 to 1974; Dr. Charles J. Charlton as Radford mayor from 1974 to 1977; Richard Harding Poff as a Virginia Supreme Court justice from 1972 to 1988; James Clinton Turk as a Virginia senator, judge, and senior judge from 1960 to 2014; and Charlie Farmer as Radford chief of police from 1945 to 1959.