Richard J. Hughes

Richard Joseph Hughes ( born August 10, 1909 in Florence, Burlington County, New Jersey; † December 7, 1992 in Boca Raton, Florida ) was an American politician and 1962-1970 Governor of the State of New Jersey.

Early years and political rise

Richard Hughes studied at St. Charles College in Catonsville, Maryland and at St. Joseph College in Philadelphia. He originally wanted to become a Catholic priest, but changed his mind and studied until 1931 at the New Jersey Law School Law. After his made ​​in 1932 admitted to the bar he began in Trenton to work in his new profession.

Between 1939 and 1945 he was Deputy Attorney General for New Jersey. Hughes became a member of the Democratic Party, whose party he became Chairman in 1945, in Mercer County. From 1948 to 1952 he was a judge in a court of appeal in this county. Since 1952 he was a judge in a High Court in his State and was considered a candidate for a judgeship on the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Hughes was drawn but before 1957, back to work as a private lawyer. In November 1961 he was elected governor of his state, he said 50.4 percent of the vote rather narrowly won against Republican James P. Mitchell, the former U.S. Secretary of Labour.

Governor of New Jersey

Richard Hughes took up his new post on January 16, 1962. After a re-election in 1965, he could remain in office until 20 January 1970. Thanks to his friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson, he was able to bring the first time a Democratic National Convention to New Jersey at the end of August 1964 took place then in Atlantic City. His tenure was overshadowed by the unrest in connection with the civil rights movement. The governor campaigned for social reform in order to escape the unrest the base. At the same time, he defended the partial crackdown on the occasion of his police riots in Jersey City and Paterson. Between 1963 and 1965, Hughes was chairman of the National Governors Association, and he was one of a committee to monitor the elections in South Vietnam.

Further CV

After the end of his tenure, Hughes was first again lawyer. In the years 1968 and 1972 he was a delegate to the national party conventions of the Democrats. From 1973 to 1979 he was Chief Justice of his state ( Chief Justice ). During his tenure, a judgment of his Court, which at that time was highly controversial in the United States. It was about the permission of euthanasia, which allowed the court in the case of a coma patient named Karen Ann Quinlan.

After reaching the age limit of 70 years, Hughes retired in 1979 from the post of Chief Justice of. He then worked again as a lawyer. He died in December 1992. Governor Hughes was married twice and had ten children, some of which are active as local politicians and lawyers in New Jersey.