Hugh Gallen
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (June 2017) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Hugh Joseph Gallen (July 30, 1924 – December 29, 1982) was an American automobile dealer and Democratic politician from Littleton, New Hampshire. After serving in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, he served as the 74th governor of New Hampshire from 1979 until his death in 1982.
Hugh J. Gallen | |
|---|---|
| 74th Governor of New Hampshire | |
| In office January 4, 1979 – December 29, 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Meldrim Thomson Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Vesta M. Roy (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hugh Joseph Gallen July 30, 1924 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | December 29, 1982 (aged 58) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Irene Carbonneau (m. 1948) |
| Children | 3 |
Biography edit
Born in Portland, Oregon, his family moved to Medford, Massachusetts, when he was six. As a young man, Gallen relocated to Littleton, New Hampshire, and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. He worked as a truck driver, carpenter, and laborer in a paper mill before entering the auto sales industry, buying a General Motors dealership in Littleton. In 1948, he married Irene Carbonneau, a native of Littleton, and together would have three children.[1][2][3]
Gallen entered politics as a member of Littleton Planning Board, serving from 1962 to 1965. From 1967, he sat on the Small Business Administration's New Hampshire Advisory Council and was director and chairman of the New Hampshire-Vermont Development Council from 1969 to 1972. As chairman of the state Democratic State Committee, he was a key supporter of Edmund Muskie's presidential campaign in 1972. The same year, he was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, the first Democrat elected to the legislature from Littleton in four decades. He ran in the 1974 and 1976 gubernatorial elections, but came third in the Democratic primary on both occasions.[4][5]
Gallen entered the 1978 New Hampshire gubernatorial election, easily winning the Democratic nomination.[6] In the general election, he defeated the incumbent, three-term Republican Governor Meldrim Thomson Jr., aided by the presence of former Governor Wesley Powell on the ballot. Powell, a moderate Republican, syphoned enough votes away from the stalwart conservative Thomson to allow Gallen to win with a narrow plurality of 49% of the vote to Thomson's 45%.[7] In a rematch two years later, Gallen won a more decisive victory of 59% to Thomson's 41%, even as Ronald Reagan handedly won New Hampshire in the conquering 1980 presidential election.[8]
In his first term, Gallen pushed through legislation preventing the Public Service Company of New Hampshire from increasing rates to fund construction of the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant.[2] His second term in particular was marked by struggles with the Republican-led legislature. In 1981, he became the first New Hampshire Governor to veto a state budget, calling for more funding for social services. During this time, the state faced a $30 million budget deficit and lost its triple-A bond rating.[1]
As another election season approached in 1982, Gallen would not take The Pledge, a promise to veto a state sales or income tax if one came to his desk, as he had in his previous two campaigns and called the state's tax system "obsolete".[1] He faced former state Representative and Tufts University professor John H. Sununu in the general election. In spite of nationwide gains for Democrats in the midterm elections, Sununu bested Gallen 51% to 47%.[9] He was the only Democratic governor to lose reelection in 1982 and, along with California, New Hampshire was one of only two governorships picked up by the Republicans that year.
Soon after his defeat, Gallen was hospitalized with a blood infection while on vacation in Saint Croix and was airlifted to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The infection impaired his liver and kidneys and he required dialysis. Out of state and unable to carry out the responsibilities of the governorship, power was transferred to the state senate president, at the time Robert B. Monier, then Vesta M. Roy when the new legislature was seated in December.[10]
Gallen's condition did not improve and he died of organ failure in Boston on December 29, 1982.[1][11] Roy, who became the first woman to wield the powers of New Hampshire Governor, served as acting governor for the final days of Gallen's term until Sununu was sworn in to office on January 6, 1983. Gallen was buried at Saint Rose of Lima New Catholic Cemetery in Littleton.
References edit
- ^ a b c d "HUGH GALLEN DIES IN BOSTON AT 58; 2-TERM NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR". New York Times. December 30, 1982. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
- ^ a b "Obituary; Hugh Gallen: New Hampshire governor". United Press International. December 30, 1982. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
- ^ "New First Lady at Bridges House". Nashua Telegraph. February 17, 1979. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 10, 1974".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 14, 1976".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 12, 1978".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - Nov 07, 1978".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - Nov 04, 1980".
- ^ "Our Campaigns - NH Governor - Nov 02, 1982".
- ^ Gallen serious: requires dialysis
- ^ Gallen, governor of N.H., dies at 58
External links edit
- Hugh Gallen at Find a Grave