John J. Dempsey

Who was John J. Dempsey?

John Joseph Dempsey was a United States Representative from New Mexico who also served as the 13th Governor of New Mexico. He was born in White Haven, Pennsylvania, where he attended grade school. Employed as a telegrapher, he held various positions with the Brooklyn Union Elevator Company. He was the vice president of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company until 1919 when he entered the oil business in Oklahoma and became vice president of the Continental Oil and Asphalt Company. He moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1920 and was an independent oil operator and in 1928 became president of the United States Asphalt Company.

Dempsey in 1932 was appointed a member and later president of the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico. He served as the state director for the National Recovery Administration in 1933, then became state director of the Federal Housing Administration and the National Emergency Council. He was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fourth, Seventy-fifth, and Seventy-sixth Congresses but was not a candidate for renomination in 1940 when he was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination for United States Senator.