Melvin H. Evans

Melvin H. Evans

Melvin Herbert Evans (born August 7, 1917 in Christiansted , Saint Croix ; †  November 27, 1984 ibid) was an American politician . Between 1969 and 1975 he was Governor of the US Virgin Islands ; from 1979 to 1981 he represented them as a non-voting delegate in the US House of Representatives . From 1981 until his death he was the United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago .

Career

Melvin Evans attended the public schools of his home country and then studied until 1940 at Howard University in Washington, DC Afterwards he studied medicine at the same university until 1944. Politically, he joined the Republican Party . Between 1959 and 1967 he was Minister of Health ( Health Commissioner ) of the Virgin Islands. He then practiced as a private doctor until 1969. In 1969 he was appointed governor of his homeland by the American federal government; the following year he became the first elected governor of the Virgin Islands. He held this office between 1969 and 1975. Between 1976 and 1980 he was a member of the Republican National Committee ; in 1972 and 1976 he was a delegate to the respective Republican National Conventions , at which Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford were nominated as presidential candidates.

In the 1978 congressional elections , Evans was elected as his home delegate to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , where he succeeded Ron de Lugo on January 3, 1979 . Since he was defeated by his predecessor de Lugo in 1980, he could only serve one term in Congress until January 3, 1981 . Between December 1, 1981 and his death on November 27, 1984, he was the successor of Irving G. Cheslaw as US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

He and his wife Phyllis had four children.

Web links

• Melvin H. Evans in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Evans in the NGA