John Joseph DEMPSEY, Congress, NM (1879-1958)

DEMPSEY John Joseph , a Representative from New Mexico; born in White Haven, Luzerne County, Pa., June 22, 1879; attended the grade schools; engaged as a telegrapher; held various positions with the Brooklyn Union Elevator Co.; vice president of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Co. until 1919; entered the oil business in Oklahoma in 1919 and was vice president of the Continental Oil & Asphalt Co.; moved to Santa Fe, N.Mex., in 1920 and was an independent oil operator; in 1928 became president of the United States Asphalt Co.; in 1932 was appointed a member and later president of the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico; State director for the National Recovery Administration in 1933, then became State director of the Federal Housing Administration and the National Emergency Council; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth, Seventy-fifth, and Seventy-sixth Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1941); was not a candidate for renomination in 1940, but was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for United States Senator; member of the United States Maritime Commission 1941; Under Secretary of the Interior from July 7, 1941, until his resignation on June 24, 1942; Governor of New Mexico from January 1, 1943, to January 1, 1947; unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator in 1946; elected to the Eighty-second and the three succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1951, until his death in Washington, D.C., March 11, 1958; interment in Rosario Cemetery, Santa Fe, N.Mex.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present