Salvatore A. Bontempo

Who was Salvatore A. Bontempo?

Salvatore A. Bontempo was an American Democratic Party politician who served as chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee.

Bontempo was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1909. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame and the John Marshall Law School, he became active in Newark city government, serving as director of purchasing from 1933 to 1942. During World War II he achieved the rank of colonel with the Army Air Forces. He was elected to the Newark City Commission in 1953.

From 1958 to 1961 he served as New Jersey's Commissioner of Conservation and Economic Development. In that position he led a drive for development of the New Jersey Meadowlands and also worked to preserve open space by acquiring land through the state's Green Acres program. In 1961 he briefly served in the State Department as administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs, after which time he left to work in the private sector.

In 1969 Bontempo was selected chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. In the 1972 Democratic presidential primaries, he supported Hubert H. Humphrey, who lost New Jersey by a huge margin to George McGovern.