Richard Joseph Hughes

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American politician and judge (1909–1992)

Richard Joseph Hughes (August 10, 1909 – December 7, 1992) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge. A Democrat , he served as the 45th governor of New Jersey from 1962 to 1970, and as Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1973 to 1979. Hughes is the only person to have served New Jersey as both governor and chief justice.

Hughes was also the first Roman Catholic governor in New Jersey's history.

Early life and education

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Hughes was born into an Irish-American family on August 10, 1909, in Florence Township, New Jersey . He was the son of Richard Paul and Veronica Hughes (née Gallagher). His father was active in Democratic politics, serving as a state civil service commissioner, warden (then known as "principal keeper") of Trenton State Prison, now called New Jersey State Prison , and chair of the Burlington County Democratic Party. Hughes graduated from Cathedral High School in Trenton, Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and the New Jersey Law School, now Rutgers Law School .

Lawyer and state judge

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Hughes was admitted to the bar in 1932 and entered private practice in Trenton . He became active in Mercer County Democratic politics in 1937 and later became a Democratic state committeeman from the county, as well as president of the New Jersey Young Democrats. Hughes sought election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1938 from New Jersey's 4th congressional district , running as a strong supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt ; he was defeated by Republican D. Lane Powers by a broad margin but established a reputation as a robust campaigner.

In December 1939, Hughes became a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey . In that role, he prosecuted federal crimes, including against members of the pro-Nazi German-American Vocational League. Hughes secured numerous convictions, which bolstered his standing. Hughes stepped down as Assistant U.S. Attorney in June 1945, after being elected chairman of the Mercer County Democratic Party, and resumed private practice in partnership with Thorn Lord , who had been U.S. Attorney.

In 1948, Hughes was appointed by acting Governor John M. Summerill, Jr. as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas (which, after the state court system was reorganized, became Mercer County Court). After Superior Court judge William J. Brennan, Jr. was appointed as a justice of the state supreme court in February 1952, Governor Alfred E. Driscoll appointed Hughes to fill the vacancy on the Superior Court bench. Hughes was later appointed to be assignment judge for Union County and was thereafter elevated to the Superior Court, Appellate Division . As a Superior Court judge, Chief Justice Arthur T. Vanderbilt appointed Hughes as chair of a committee tasked with studying the state's handling of juvenile offenders and making recommendations for changes; the state supreme court accepted the committee's recommendations, leading to a reform of the New Jersey juvenile and domestic-relations courts.

Hughes was considered by Governor Robert B. Meyner as a possible nominee to the state supreme court bench. Seeking to support his large family, however, Hughes resigned from the bench in November 1957 in resume the practice of law.

In his successful practice, Hughes' clients included the Association of New Jersey Railroads, Public Service Electric & Gas Company , and manufacturers of polio vaccines, whom Hughes defended in antitrust matters.

Governor, 1962–1970

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Hughes was little known at the time he ran for governor of New Jersey in 1961, and was selected as the Democratic nominee only after the first choice of powerful party leaders, Attorney General Grover C. Richman , had a heart attack . Hughes proved to be a strong campaigner, however, and achieved an upset victory over Republican nominee James P. Mitchell , who had been U.S. Secretary of Labor during the Eisenhower administration , by slightly under 35,000 votes.

One of the important issues of Hughes' term as governor was state taxation; at the time Hughes took office in 1962, "New Jersey was one of only a handful of states that had neither an income tax nor a sales tax ." Hughes suffered a political defeat when a bond question, which would have issued $750 million in bonds for capital construction, was voted down in the November 1962 elections .

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