Patrick J. Lucey

Patrick Lucey

Patrick Joseph Lucey (born March 21, 1918 in La Crosse , Wisconsin , † May 10, 2014 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin) was an American politician . He was the 38th Governor of Wisconsin from 1971 to 1977 .

Early years

Lucey attended Champion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and then St Thomas College, St Paul, Minnesota . From 1937 to 1940 he was the head of a retail business. During the Second World War he was a soldier in the US Army. In 1946 he graduated from the University of Wisconsin . After that he was manager of 14 farms in southwest Wisconsin until 1951. In 1954 he also began trading real estate. At the beginning of his political career, Lucey was a member of the Democrats . Between 1946 and 1950 he was a justice of the peace and between 1949 and 1951 he was a member of the state parliament of Wisconsin. From 1957 to 1963 he was state chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. In 1972 and 1976 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention . In 1964 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. He held this office between 1965 and 1967.

Governor of wisconsin

In 1970 he was elected the new governor of his state. He took office on January 4, 1971. At the end of his first four-year term in 1974, he was confirmed by the electorate. During his reign, he reverted to an old plan from the 1890s to merge the two state universities in the country. These were the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin State University . The plan had been unsuccessfully discussed in the 1940s and 1950s. Patrick Lucey merged the two institutions in 1974. Lucey also promoted tourism in his state. Before the end of his second term, Lucey resigned on July 7, 1977 to accept an offer from the new President Jimmy Carter , who appointed him American ambassador to Mexico .

Another résumé

Lucey remained ambassador to Mexico between 1977 and 1979. For the upcoming presidential elections in 1980 he was nominated by the Independent Party as a candidate for the vice presidency. Neither he nor his party had a chance of winning the election. In these elections, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected president against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter. Patrick Lucey is married to Jean Vlasis, with whom he has three children.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport, 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

• Patrick J. Lucey in the database of the National Governors Association (English)
• Patrick Lucey at the Wisconsin Historical Society (English)
• Patrick J. Lucey in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Emma G. Fitzsimmons: Patrick Lucey, 96, Dies; Wisconsin Governor and Vice-Presidential Candidate. In: The New York Times, May 11, 2014 (accessed May 12, 2014).