Dennis Chavez

Dennis Chavez

Dionisio "Dennis" Chavez (born April 8, 1888 in Los Chaves , Valencia County , New Mexico Territory , †  November 18, 1962 in Washington DC ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who lived in the state of New Mexico in represented both chambers of the US Congress .

Life

Dennis Chavez came from a family that had resided in his birthplace Los Chaves for generations. In 1895 he moved with his parents to Albuquerque , where they lived in the historic residential area of ​​Barelas. He went to school there, but had to drop out of training to work and support his family financially. At first he was employed in a grocery store. He later attended evening school and learned the profession of engineer there, which he then practiced for many years as an employee of the city of Albuquerque.

In 1911 he married Imelda Espinosa, who belonged to a prominent family in New Mexico. The couple moved to Belen in 1914 , where Chavez worked, among other things, as a journalist for a weekly newspaper and as a court interpreter. In 1916 he supported the ultimately successful election campaign of Andrieus A. Jones for a seat in the US Senate as a Spanish interpreter. When Jones took office the following year, Jones offered him the position of assistant office manager in Washington. Chavez took up the post and also attended evening school after work, where he studied law. After graduating from Georgetown University , he returned to Albuquerque in 1920 and opened a law firm there.

politics

His first political mandate took Chavez as a member of the House of Representatives from New Mexico between 1923 and 1924; he did not stand for re-election. In 1930 he applied for the only seat the state held in the US House of Representatives at the time . There he remained after his election victory from March 4, 1931 to January 3, 1935. After that, he initially resigned from Congress, as he had lost the election to US Senator against the Republican Bronson M. Cutting the year before .

When Cutting was killed in an airplane crash on May 6, 1935, Chavez was appointed as his successor in the Senate by New Mexico Governor Clyde Tingley . After he was confirmed in the November 1936 by-election, he became the first Hispanic to serve a full six-year term when he was re-elected in 1940 . Further re-elections followed in 1946, 1952 and 1958, before Dennis Chavez died in office on November 18, 1962.

Appreciation

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered the eulogy at Chavez's funeral in Mount Calvary Cemetery , Albuquerque . Of all Hispanics who have served in the Senate to date, he is the one with the longest term by far. A statue with his image is in the National Statuary Hall of the Capitol in Washington, where each state is represented by two people from its history. In addition to Chavez, for New Mexico this is the Indian leader Popé .

His granddaughter, Gloria Tristani, became the first Hispanic member of the Federal Communications Commission in 1997 . In 2002 she applied for a seat in the US Senate, but was defeated by Republican Pete Domenici .

Web links

• Dennis Chavez in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Dennis Chavez in the database of Find a Grave (English)