Stated goals during Maw's second term were economic security and equal civil rights for all citizens; however, by 1947 he was warning the legislature about the cost of new health, education, and welfare programs. He promoted a major highway building program and approved creation of a state water and power board to oversee development of Colorado River water in Utah. Funding requested by Maw for the pioneer centennial celebration in 1947 attracted many tourists to the state and built the "This Is the Place Monument" at the mouth of Emigration Canyon.

Public criticism of a state welfare system that lent itself to political interference, a highly publicized case against two state liquor system employees, the dissatisfaction of conservative Democrats, and a campaign letter to fellow Mormons that backfired, all helped lead to Maw's defeat by Republican J. Bracken Lee in 1948.

Maw sought a U.S. Senate seat in 1956 but was defeated in the primary. He continued active in private life and maintained a private law practice until he was into his nineties. He died on 17 November 1990.

See: Herbert B. Maw, Adventures with Life (1978).

Miriam B. Murphy