Merritt C. Mechem

Merrit C. Mechem (1921)

Merritt Cramer Mechem (born October 10, 1870 in Ottawa , Franklin County , Kansas , † May 24, 1946 in Albuquerque , New Mexico ) was an American politician and from 1921 to 1923 the fifth governor of the state of New Mexico.

Early years

Merritt Mechem attended Ottawa University after elementary school and later studied law at the University of Kansas . In 1893 he was admitted to the bar. He then worked for ten years in Fort Smith ( Arkansas ) in this profession. In 1903, he moved his practice to Tucumcari , New Mexico Territory .

Public offices

Between 1905 and 1909, Mechem was a district attorney in Quay County and Guadalupe Counties . He was then a member of the Territorial Government Council from 1909 to 1911. Also in 1909 he was selected by President William Howard Taft to judges of the Supreme Court ( Supreme Court appointed) of the New Mexico Territory. He held this position until 1911. Then he was a judge at the Seventh District Court in Socorro until 1920 . In 1920 he was elected governor of his state as a candidate for the Republican Party with 51:48 percent of the vote against the Democrat Richard H. Hanna.

Mechem took office on January 1, 1921. During his two-year tenure, the first women were appointed to government commissions, and women's suffrage, the 19th Amendment , was ratified in New Mexico. Otherwise his term of office passed without any special events. Governor Mechem declined to run again in 1922 and therefore resigned from office on January 1, 1923.

Another résumé

After his governor's tenure, he worked as a lawyer in Albuquerque until his death. He has since served as President of the New Mexico Bar Association for a term. Governor Mechem died in May 1946. He was married to Eleanor Francis O'Heir. His nephew Edwin L. Mechem was governor of New Mexico several times between 1951 and 1963.

Web links

• Merritt C. Mechem at the National Governors Association (English)