John Joseph Dempsey

John Joseph Dempsey (1939)

John Joseph Dempsey (born June 22, 1879 in White Haven , Luzerne County , Pennsylvania , †  March 11, 1958 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician and the 13th governor of New Mexico from 1943 to 1947  . He also represented this state twice in the US House of Representatives .

Early years and political advancement

John Dempsey attended local schools in his home in Pennsylvania. After leaving school, he first worked at a telegraph office. After that, he made a quick climb in the business world. He worked for the Brooklyn Union Elevator Company , among others, and was Vice President of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company until 1919 . Since 1919 he worked in Oklahoma in the oil business. In 1920 he moved to Santa Fe , New Mexico. There, too, he was involved in the oil business. In 1928 he became President of the United States Asphalt Company .

In 1932 he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the University of New Mexico . In 1933 he became President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Mexico Director of Reconstruction as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies . Between 1935 and 1941 Dempsey represented his state as a Democrat in the US House of Representatives. In 1940 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate . In 1941 he was appointed to the Federal Government's Naval Commission and between 1941 and 1942 he was Secretary of State in the US Department of the Interior . On November 3, 1942, he was elected the new governor of his state with 55:45 percent of the vote against the Republican Joseph F. Tondre.

Governor of New Mexico

John Dempsey took up his new office on January 1, 1943. After re-election in 1944, he was able to exercise it until January 1, 1947. The best-known event of his tenure was the federal government's atomic bomb tests near Alamogordo . At the start of his tenure, World War II was still in full swing and the governor supported and complied with the federal government's requirements to support the war effort. After the end of the war, the economy had to be cut back to meet civilian needs and the returning soldiers had to be reintegrated into society. During his tenure, New Mexico's economy flourished.

Another résumé

Even after the end of his governorship, Dempsey remained politically active. In 1946 he ran again unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate. For this he was re-elected to the House of Representatives. There he worked for his home state of New Mexico between 1951 and his death in 1958. John Dempsey was married twice and had three children in total.

Web links

• John Joseph Dempsey in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John Dempsey in the National Governors Association (English)
• John Joseph Dempsey in the database of Find a Grave (English)