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Meldrim Thomson Jr.

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Meldrim Thomson Jr.
73rd Governor of New Hampshire
In office
January 4, 1973 – January 4, 1979
Preceded byWalter R. Peterson Jr.
Succeeded byHugh J. Gallen
Personal details
BornMarch 8, 1912 (1912-03-08)
Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 19, 2001(2001-04-19) (aged 89)
Orford, New Hampshire, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations		American Independent (1970)
SpouseAnne Gale Kelly
Professionpublisher

Meldrim Thomson Jr. (March 8, 1912 – April 19, 2001) was an American politician who served three terms as the 73rd governor of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1979. A Republican, he was known as a strong supporter of conservative political values.

Early life

Thomson was born in 1912 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Meldrim and Marion (Booth) Thomson, and was raised in Georgia and Florida.[1] He was an Eagle Scout. Thomson attended Mercer University, Washington and Jefferson College, and the University of Georgia School of Law and was admitted to the practice of law in Florida in 1936.[2]

In 1938, he married his secretary, Anne Gale Kelly, and together they had six children.

Thomson made his fortune publishing law books. In 1952, he founded Equity Publishing Corp., which published the laws of New Hampshire, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico in English and Spanish. In 1955, he moved his family to New Hampshire, where he became involved in local and state educational and tax issues.

Political career

In 1966, as chairman of the Orford School Board, Thomson refused to accept federal education aid because he said there were too many strings attached. He lost races for governor in Republican primaries in 1968 and 1970, running again in the 1970 general election on the third-party American Independent party.[3] He finally won the governorship in 1972 as a Republican after a campaign in which he pledged to veto any new sales or income tax that was put on his desk, and he further promised not to raise existing taxes.[4]

In his bid for re-election in 1978, Thomson lost to Democrat Hugh Gallen.[5] Thomson considered running for the presidency in 1980, but instead ran for governor, again losing to Gallen. In 1982 he ran for governor as an Independent, getting just 1.7% of the vote.[6]

Governorship

Thomson and his wife meet with Senator Bob Smith

Thomson coined the slogans "Low taxes are the result of low spending" and "Ax the Tax" to represent his fiscal philosophy.

He was also a strong proponent of state sovereignty. When Thomson learned Massachusetts tax agents were at New Hampshire liquor stores taking down the numbers on cars with Massachusetts license plates, he had them arrested.[7] When he learned that Maine had arrested a Portsmouth, New Hampshire lobsterman, in Maine waters, he began what was known as the "Lobster war."[8] The conflict ended in the U.S. Supreme Court with the drawing of an ocean boundary between the two states at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.[9]

In 1978, Thomson appointed David Souter to the Superior Court bench. Souter would later become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomson also appointed Ivory Cobb, the first African-American judge in New Hampshire state history.[10]

Death and honors

Thomson died in 2001 aged 89 from Parkinson's disease and heart problems in Orford, New Hampshire.

In 2002, the state named both a state building and state road in honor of Thomson. The state office complex on Hazen Drive in Concord was named "Meldrim Thomson Jr. State Office Complex." A 16-mile stretch of Route 25A, where his Mt. Cube Farm lined both sides of the road, was named the "Governor Meldrim Thomson Scenic Highway."

Controversies

During his governorship, and thereafter, Thomson took the following actions:

  • in 1976 and 1977 he ordered the flag at the statehouse to be flown at half-staff including on Good Friday to "memorialise the death of Christ on the Cross."[11]
  • during the 1977 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station, he was brought in by helicopter to order the arrest of 1,400 protesters.[12]
  • personally arresting speeders from his official car.[13]
  • visiting South Africa in 1978 and then praising the government.[14]
  • sending out a press release in 1977 saying that he wanted journalists to keep the "Christ" in Christmas and not call it Xmas, which, he asserted, was a pagan spelling of Christmas[15]

Presidential bid

Thomson was one of Ronald Reagan's staunchest supporters in 1976, as the former California governor challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination. Thomson was dismayed by Reagan's announcement that he would select moderate Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate should he win the nomination.[16]

After he was defeated for re-election in 1978, Thomson left the Republican party to form his own Constitution Party. However, after getting on the ballot in Alabama, Kansas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Maine, his campaign contributions dried up when it was evident that Ronald Reagan was going to win the Republican nomination for president. Thomson then ended his campaign for president and returned to the Republican Party.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Meldrim Thomson, 91st governor of New Hampshire". New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester, NH). April 22, 2001.
  2. ^ Bastedo (State Curator), Russell. "Publications - A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998". New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.
  3. ^ "For N.H. Gov. Thomson Says He Is Through Running For Public Office". Boston Globe. June 11, 1988.
  4. ^ "Meldrim Thomson, 91st governor of New Hampshire". New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester, NH). April 22, 2001.
  5. ^ "NH Governor". Our Campaigns. Our Campaigns. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  6. ^ "US Gubernatorial Elections, 1982 election results statistics - states compared - Statemaster". Archived from the original on 2013-01-17. Retrieved 2012-02-02.
  7. ^ Bluer shades of granite - Boston.com
  8. ^ NEW ENGLAND: Lobster War, TIME (July 2, 1973)
  9. ^ Kenneth T. Palmer, et al. Maine Politics and Government, pg. 190
  10. ^ Belman, Felice; Pride, Mike (2001). "The New Hampshire Century: "Concord Monitor" Profiles of One Hundred People Who Shaped It". Google Books. ISBN 9781584650874. Retrieved 2015-04-16.
  11. ^ Yarbrough, Tinsley E. (22 September 2005). David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court. ISBN 9780195159332.
  12. ^ Steven Rosenberg (April 29, 2007). "Nuclear reaction". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  13. ^ Richard M. Detwiler (November 23, 1975). "Really a Bellwether?". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Clergy raps N.H. Governor". The Spokesman-Review. January 30, 1978. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  15. ^ "X-mas is 'X'ing out Christ'". The Montreal Gazette. December 8, 1977. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  16. ^ "Former New Hampshire governor Meldrim Thomson Jr". The Washington Post. March 26, 1979.
  17. ^ "An Old Warrior Jousts in New Hampshire For Old Job". The New York Times. August 24, 1980.
Party political offices
First American Party nominee for Governor of New Hampshire
1970 		Succeeded by
None
Preceded by Republican nominee for Governor of New Hampshire
1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Governor of New Hampshire
1973–1979 		Succeeded by
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