Meldrim Thomson

Thomson and his wife with Senator Bob Smith

Meldrim Thomson, Jr. (born March 8, 1912 in Wilkinsburg , Allegheny County , Pennsylvania , † April 19, 2001 in Orford , New Hampshire ) was an American politician and governor of the state of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1979 .

Early years

Thomson was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Florida and Georgia . Until 1930 he attended high school in Miami . He then attended Mercer University Law School and Washington and Jefferson College . He graduated from the University of Georgia in 1936 and was admitted to the bar. Between 1936 and 1951 he was employed by a publishing company in Brooklyn , New York City , which specialized in legal literature. In 1951 he went into business for himself and founded his own legal publishing house, which he moved from New York City to Orford in New Hampshire in 1954.

Political rise

Thomson became a member of the Republican Party . In 1964 he was a member of a commission for the revision of the New Hampshire Constitution. In 1966 he was on the Orford School Board, where he spoke out against federal funds to promote education because, in his opinion, these were tied to too many conditions. In both 1968 and 1970 he unsuccessfully applied for his party's nomination for the office of governor. In 1972 he was nominated as a candidate. During the election campaign, he promised, as governor, to reject any tax proposal that would be presented to him and not to introduce any new taxes himself.

New Hampshire Governor

After his election as governor, Thomson was able to take up his new office on January 4, 1973, which he held until January 4, 1979 after two re-elections in 1974 and 1976. Thomson kept his word on taxes. No new taxes were introduced during his reign and some existing taxes were abolished. To date, New Hampshire has no income tax or sales tax . The loss of income was compensated by savings in expenses. Regardless of his tax policy, Thomson became an ultra-conservative politician. Among other things, he called for the state's national guard to be equipped with nuclear weapons. He assumed that Martin Luther King had an immoral character and brought him close to communism. He also had this conservative attitude in many other areas such as B. against homosexuals or protesting demonstrators. During his tenure, New Hampshire reintroduced the death penalty. Thomson also insisted on his state's rights vis-à-vis the federal government, but also vis-à-vis neighboring states. This led to quarrels with the states of Maine and Massachusetts during his reign .

Another résumé

In 1978 he briefly left the Republican Party and founded his own party, which he called the Constitutional Party . He intended to run for the American presidency in 1980 as his new party's candidate. But after he had to realize that his financial means were insufficient for the election campaign, and the Republicans nominated Ronald Reagan , whom he had supported himself in 1976, he withdrew from the election campaign. Reagan then won the election against Jimmy Carter . Thomson then returned to the Republicans.

Meldrim Thomson died in 2001. He had six children with his wife, Anne Gale Kelley.

Web links

• Meldrim Thomspon in the National Governors Association (English)
• Biography of New Hampshire (English)
• Meldrim Thomson in the database of Find a Grave (English)