Guy J. Swope

Who was Guy J. Swope?

Guy Jacob Swope was an American teacher, accountant, and Democratic politician. His career included one term as a United States Congressman in the Seventy-seventh United States Congress, serving as a Director in the United States Department of Interior under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and serving for a brief period as Governor of Puerto Rico in 1941. He also served in the United States Naval Reserve, Military Government Branch, where he attained the rank of Commander.

Swope was born in Meckville, Berks County, Pennsylvania and studied in Keystone State Teachers College and Columbia University School of International Affairs. After graduation, he first worked as a teacher in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania and later as an agent for the Internal Revenue Service. In 1935, he became the budgetary secretary for Pennsylvania and served in that position for two years before being elected to congress in 1936. He failed to win re-election in 1938.

He was made auditor of Puerto Rico in 1940 and served in that capacity for only a year before being appointed acting Governor. He only worked as governor for less than a year before becoming a Director in the Division of Territories and Island Possessions for the Department of the Interior.