Jack M. Campbell

Jack M. Campbell ( born September 10, 1916 in Hutchinson, Kansas, † June 14, 1999 in Santa Fe, New Mexico ) was an American politician and 1963-1967 Governor of the State of New Mexico.

Early years and political rise

Jack Campbell visited until 1940, the Washburn College, where he studied law among others. During the Second World War he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. After the war he worked as a lawyer in Albuquerque. He also worked as an FBI investigator.

Campbell was a member of the Democratic Party. Between 1955 and 1962 he sat as an MP in the House of Representatives from New Mexico. Since 1960 he was Speaker of the House. On November 6, 1962, he was elected with 53:47 percent of the vote against Republican incumbent Edwin L. Mechem as the new governor of his state.

Governor of New Mexico

Campbell took up his new post on 1 January 1963. After a re-election in 1964 he was able to exercise it until 1 January 1967. In his four years in government programs were set up to help the mentally handicapped. An expansion program of highways was developed and built a bridge over the Rio Grande. When a government scientific advisor was hired.

After the end of his governorship Campbell was 1967-1971 member of the nuclear safety commission. In 1969 he was president of the Federation of Rocky Mountain States ( Federation of Rocky Mountain States ). Jack Campbell died in June 1999. He was married to Ruth Anne Debus, with whom he had four children.