He was a Republican. He completes the trio in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Newark. This is one of my favorite monuments (I just like the shape). 

        When he was ten years old, his family moved to Newark. Murphy was 16 years old when the Civil War began. He enlisted as a private in the 13th New Jersey Regiment and served for three years. He participated in the Battles of Antietam, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg and out west at Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. In his first battle at Antietam, his regiment fought in the famous cornfield and around the Dunker Church. At Gettysburg, they fought with the rest of the XII Corp against Confederate General Ewell's Corp at Culp's Hill. By the time he mustered out in 1865, Murphy had been promoted to first lieutenant. 

       When he returned home, Murphy went into business. Murphy & Company was nationally known as a varnish business. He married Janet Colwell in 1868. Murphy also became active in Republican politics in Newark. In the 1890's, he became very powerful politically in Northern New Jersey. In 1900, Murphy, along with current governor Foster Voorhees, were members of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia which nominated William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt for president and vice-president.

      In 1901, he ran for governor and easily defeated Democratic Newark Mayor, James M. Seymour. As governor, Murphy brought his business sense and organizational skills to Trenton. He was also very friendly toward businesses and corporations. He improved child safety laws and education. It was also a period of progressive that was sweeping the nation. Mayor Mark Fagen of Jersey City was calling for equal taxation, especially by railroads. Of course, railroad corporations were among the most powerful in the country at the time. Fagen accused the Republican Party of being controlled by the railroads. Sweeping reforms would begin under Murphy's administration.

       Murphy only served one term as governor. However, he remained a very powerful figure in the Republican Party. In 1908, he was considered for the vice presidential nomination (it went to James S. Sherman instead). In 1916, he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate. Despite some progressive aspects, Murphy was a conservative Republican throughout his political career. In 1912, Murphy stuck with President William Taft when Teddy Roosevelt was splitting the Republican Party. 

      In 1920, while he was vacationing in Palm Beach, he suffered an intestinal obstruction. He died six days after an operation at age 74. There is a statue of Murphy on Elizabeth Avenue in Weequahic Park, Newark.

            John Franklin Fort was born into a family of public officials. His father was a state assemblyman. When Fort was born, his uncle, Dr. George F. Fort was the Democratic governor of New Jersey. Fort studied law. While at law school his roommate was future 1904 Democratic presidential hopeful Alton B. Parker. Fort became a Republican and campaigned for Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1872. The following year, he passed the bar and began law practice in Newark. In 1876, Fort married Charlotte Starnsby, the daughter of the Essex County Republican leader.

             In July of 2002, my wife and I took our nephew Damian for a weekend visit to Manassas, Virginia. We toured the Civil War battlefield of Bull Run (Manses). On Sunday, we drove up to Washington D.C. to the Washington National Cathedral for the 11 am service. Even though we are not Episcopalians, we wanted to go anyway. Before the service, we walked around the cathedral, which is huge. It is a Gothic cathedral and is the second largest cathedral in the country (after St. John the Divine in Manhattan) and the sixth largest cathedral in the world. I was under the misconception that Wilson was in the crypt beneath the main floor. As we walked around the nave, we came upon Wilson. He is in the Wilson Bay at the center of the nave on the south side. They have a American flag, a New Jersey flag and the flag of Princeton University in the bay. His wife, Edith Boll Wilson is also buried there beneath the floor. In all, there are 150 people buried in the cathedral. The most famous of these, besides Wilson, are Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan, Admiral George Dewey (Spanish-American War hero) and Cordell Hull (F.D.R.'s Secretary of State). It was very hot that day, after the service we went to lunch in Georgetown.

             Born in Virginia, Wilson  received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University, a law degree from University of Virginia and his Ph.D. from John Hopkins, all by the age of 30 (1886). Four years later, he was back at Princeton as a history professor. Within 12 years, he was the president of the university. Eight years later, in 1910, he was elected Governor of New Jersey.  Two years later, he ran for President of the United States and won again. This was made possible because the Republican Party was split between incumbent President William Taft and independent former President Teddy Roosevelt. Wilson carried 42 states and 435 Electoral votes. 

           After the Wilson's left the White House in 1921, they lived in a house at 2340 S Street, N.W. in Washington D.C. Wilson rarely left the house, though he did attend President Harding's funeral in August of 1823. Six months later, Wilson was blind and barely able to move or speak. On February 3, 1824, with his Edith and daughter Margaret by him, his heart stopped. On February 8, a private funeral service was held in his house, attended by President Coolidge and his wife. Edith, still overcome with grief, watched from the top of the stairs. 30,000 people stood in a bitter cold rain to watch the funeral procession. a military escort took Wilson, in a black coffin, to Washington National Cathedral (still being built) where the funeral service was held. Wilson was interred in the crypt below in the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. In 1956, he was moved upstairs to his present place. His wife, Edith lived for 37 years. In 1961, she rode in President Kennedy's inaugural parade. She died later in the year on her husbands birthday and is buried in the Wilson's Bay next to her husband.

        James Fairman Fielder was born in a political family. His family descended from some of the original Dutch settlers of Hudson County. His father was George Bragg Fielder, a U.S. Congressman. His grandfather was John Brinkerhoff, a Hudson County judge. His uncle was William Brinkerhoff, a New Jersey state senator. Fielder graduated from Columbia Law School and started practicing law in Jersey City. He married Mabel Cholwell Miller in 1895. Fielder, like others in his family entered politics and became a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from Hudson County, New Jersey from 1903 to 1904. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate representing Hudson County in 1908 and re-elected in 1910.

     When the New Jersey Senate convened in January 1913 after Woodrow Wilson had won the 1912 Presidential Election, the Democratic caucus selected Fielder to serve as Senate President, knowing that he would assume the position of Acting Governor after Wilson stepped down to become president. Fielder became Acting Governor on March 1, 1913, when Woodrow Wilson stepped down to become President of the United States. Fielder announced he would run for governor shortly after and on October 28, 1913, so as to create a vacancy in the governorship and avoid constitutional limits on succeeding himself as governor, to begin his campaign.

       The next election would be the first time that a candidate was selected according to the newly reconstructed primary laws. The 1913 Democratic primary had three candidates. Along with Fielder, there was Jersey City mayor Otto Wittpenn and Trenton mayor Frank S. Katzenback (who lost the governors election in 1907). President Wilson got Wittpenn to pull out of the race which allowed Fielder to easily defeat Katzenback. In the general election, Fielder defeated his Republican opponent, former governor Edward C. Stokes (1905-08). After winning "re-election," he took office on January 20, 1914, and served a full term in office. The Democrats also won both houses of the state legislature.

       Fielder, who supported the reforms of his predecessor, Woodrow Wilson, wanted to continue his policies. However, he found out quickly that the power in the New Jersey Democratic Party was shifting to a new up and coming leader, Frank Hague of Jersey City. Even with his party's control of the legislature, Fielder had trouble getting his agenda passed. It became worse in 1914, when the Republicans took control of both houses of the state legislature and began to roll back many of the Wilson reforms despite Fielders attempt to stop them. After his three years was up, Fielder who was frustrated by both political parties and what he saw as their petty agendas trumping the overall common good of the state, retired from politics. Republican Walter E. Edge defeated Wittpenn in the 1916 election.

       In 1917, Fielder ran the State Food Administration during World War I and in 1919 he became the vice-chancellor of the Court of Chancery. The last post he held for 29 years. Fielder died of a heart attack and is buried in the mausoleum in Fairmount Cemetery, Newark

          He was from Jersey City and he was a Hague Democrat. He won a seat in the U.S. Senate on his Anti-Prohibition platform using the campaign slogan "Wine, Women and Song" (that would get my vote). His famous Anti-Prohibition quote was, "New Jersey - wet as the Atlantic Ocean." He is in Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. However, his name is not on the gravestone. Why you ask? I really don't know. He did have a string of very bad luck at the end of his life. He was implicated in a voting fraud scandal (imagine that in Jersey City), he went bankrupt in the Stock Market Crash of '29, his wife died, he was diagnosed with cancer and ended up killing himself in his Kensington Avenue (that's in Jersey City) apartment. The name on the stone is his brother and sister-in-law. I did check with the cemetery office to make sure he's there.

         Born in Jersey City, Edward Irving Edwards attended New York University and than studied law in his brother's law office, who was also a state senator. On November 14, 1888, he married Blanche Smith. They had two children, Edward Irving, Jr. and Elizabeth Jules. He became involved in banking, becoming president and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Jersey City. Edwards entered politics and became part of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, being elected state senator in 1918. He became a friend and close political ally of Mayor Frank "Boss" Hague, who ran the Democratic machine in Hudson County and soon New Jersey. Hague supported Edwards gubernatorial run in 1919. 

         In 1919, World War I was over and the country was going through a turbulent period with labor strikes and Communist scares. The Republican Party was growing in power after the days of Woodrow Wilson. Republican Warren G. Harding was swept into the White House, signaling the start of "Normalcy", and Republicans won every governors race in the north and west of the country, that is except New Jersey. Edwards, running on a anti-prohibition campaign, which was called "The Applejack Campaign", edged out Republican Newton Bugbee with 52% of the vote. As governor, Edwards was frustrated with the Republican controlled legislature, with more rural interests, who overrode many of his vetoes. Edwards, who had urban interests at heart constantly voted against anything he thought would hurt the city workers, like public transportation fare increases and "blue laws". Edwards had successfully created an urban coalition. In 1920, Edwards was even considered as a potential Democratic nomination for president (the party went with James Cox of Ohio - who was crushed by Harding).

             At the end of his term, forbidden by the state constitution to run for a consecutive term, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1922. Campaigning against the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) and with the support of the Hague Democratic Political Machine, Edwards defeated incumbent Republican Joseph S. Frelinghuysen by almost 90,000 votes. After six years in the Senate, Edwards ran for re-election against Republican Hamilton Kean in 1928. Kean came out against Prohibition also which hurt Edwards who used his "Applejack Campaign" so successfully in the past. Also, Edwards could not overcome the "Coolidge Prosperity" that was sweeping the country. He lost by over 230,000 votes.

           After returning to Jersey City in March of 1929, his luck turned for the worse. His wife had died in 1928 and his relationship with Mayor Hague went downhill when Hague supported A. Harry Moore instead of Edwards for governor. He went broke in the stock market crash of '29 and was implicated in a voter freud scandal. Finally, he was diagnosed with skin cancer and ended up shooting himself in his Jersey City home. He is buried in the plot of his older brother, William David Edwards, who he once worked for, who died in 1916.

         He was also from Jersey City and another Hague man. He is the only New Jersey Governor to serve three non-consecutive terms (our old state constitution wouldn't let you serve consecutive terms). Between his second and third terms, he was a U.S. Senator which he hated. He once referred to the United States Congress as "The Cave of Winds" (he might be on to something here). He is also in Bayview-New York Bay Cemetery - not too far from Edwards. He was much easier to find. Moore's stone is stylish also - a little Art Deco. By the way, the "A" stood for Arthur. 

       Born in the Lafayette section of Jersey City, Moore dropped out of grammar school to work. He finished his education on the side before becoming the secretary of Jersey City mayor, H. Otto Wittpenn in 1907. He married Jennie Hastings Stevens in 1911 as he continued to move up in the city Democratic circles. Two years later, Moore successfully ran for commissioner in Jersey City. When his mentor, Wittpenn, lost the governors election in 1916 and subsequently dropped out of politics, Moore teamed up with another commissioner, Frank Hague. 

         In the Jersey City elections of 1917, Moore and Hague were re-elected as commissioners, beginning Hague's 30-year rule as mayor and the beginning of the "Hague Political Machine". While a commissioner, Moore graduated from New Jersey Law School in Newark and passed the bar. Hague, who by the 1920's was controlling New Jersey's political scene, landed Moore the Democratic nomination for governor in 1925. In the election, that featured Moore's anti-prohibition stance against the Republican's "Anti-Hague" campaign, Moore carried only three state counties. However, he won by such a wide margin in Hudson County, that he easily won the election over Arthur Whitney.

         Working with a Republican State House, Moore learned to compromise to get things accomplished. In his first term, he dedicated the Holland Tunnel (connecting Jersey City to New York) and Goethals Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossings connecting New Jersey with Staten Island. As the country went through the "Roaring Twenties", Moore had to deal with the social problems it caused. In 1928, the state constitution prohibited Moore from running for a consecutive term and the Republicans swept the elections for the governorship and the state house. 

        Being in power at the time of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression, the Republicans took the brunt of the blame. Moore waited on the sidelines for the next election. In the election of 1925, Moore criticized President Herbert Hoover and Governor Morgan F. Larson for current depression and easily carried the election over Republican David Baird Jr., winning all but one county (Baird's home county of Camden). During his second term, Moore did everything he could to cut back on spending to help the state's economic problems. 

         Two major events, which received worldwide publicity, occurred during his second term. The first was the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby in 1932. He took personal charge of the investigation. The second was the wreck of the ocean liner Morro Castle, which burned off the coast of Asbury Park. Moore was highly involved during rescue operations. In addition, during his administration, Prohibition was repealed.

          Again unable to run for a consecutive term, Moore, at Hague's insistence, successfully ran for the United States Senate.  This allowed the Republicans to retake the governor's office when Harold G. Hoffman won in 1934. Never very comfortable with President's Roosevelt's New Deal projects, Moore did not enjoy his years in Washington D.C.  He was the only Senate Democrat to vote against Roosevelt's Social Security Program and to oppose FDR's plan to pack the Supreme Court. When Hague asked him to run again for governor, Moore happily resigned his Senate seat after only three years. In all probability, Hague did this because of his close political friendship with Roosevelt. 

        In the 1937 elections, Moore faced Essex County republican, the reverend Lester H. Clee (strangely enough, Moore's sister-in-law was married to Clee's brother). Despite the relationship, the election was very ugly. Moore record in the Senate (his opposition to the New Deal) was used I against him. Clee carried 15 of the 21 counties, but Moore's 130,000-vote victory in Hudson County gave him the win. Clee claimed voter fraud which eventually led to a Senate investigation in 1940 (the investigation ended when it was discovered that the voting records in Hudson County had been destroyed).

        Moore's third term was devoted to economic recovery as the state struggled through the Great Depression. In early 1941, Moore left the Governor's office for the last time. Frank Hague wanted him to run for a fourth term in 1943, but Moore refused. In 1944, Moore was a delegate in the democratic National Convention that nominated Roosevelt for a fourth term. A year later, Moore was appointed by Governor Edge to the State Board of Education. While driving near his summer home in Hunterton County, Moore suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 73.

        The A. Harry Moore High School in Jersey City is named after him. Moore is one of only two New Jersey governors to have a high school named in their honor. The other was Harold G. Hoffman. 

          During the summer of 2005, I took a drive to Perth Amboy to find Governor Morgan Larson. I had tried once before but could find him in Alpine Cemetery. It wasn't easy and took awhile, but I eventually found him making Larson the 28th Dead Governor to join my collection.

            The son of Danish immigrants, Larson was educated in public schools and later received a degree in engineering from Cooper Union Institute in New York City. He worked as an engineer for local municipalities. In 1914, he married Jennie Brogger. In 1921, at age 39, Larson entered politics. A Republican, he was elected to the New Jersey state senate from Middlesex County. He was re-elected in 1924 and again in 1927. In 1925, he became the senate's majority leader and the following year, the senate president.

         With the rise of the automobile, Larson became interested in engineering projects that would improve New Jersey's infrastructure. He worked on three major projects; The George Washington Bridge, The Outercrossing Bridge and the Goethals Bridge. The first one would connect New York City with Fort Lee, New Jersey while the later two connected New Jersey to Staten Island. Larson also passed legislation to build 1,700 miles of highways.

        Larson looked to winning the statehouse in 1929. Larson would first have to face Jersey City Republican Robert Carey in the Republican primaries. Ironically, Jersey City Democratic political boss Frank Hague did not want Carey to win the general election for governor, and ultimately weaken Hague's political base in the state, so he had the Democratic party machine in Hudson County support Larson in the Republican primaries to keep Carey out. Because of this, Larson won the primary. However, this backfired on Hague, who thought Larson would be easier to beat, when Larson won the gubernatorial election against Democrat Judge William L. Dill of Paterson. Larson attacked Paterson for being a Hague pawn saying he, "will enter the capital at Trenton through the front door and the Hague machine will go out the backdoor."

          As governor, Larson immediately angered many Republican party bosses over his selections to political positions. Despite the Republicans controlling both houses of the legislature, Larson wasn't able to get much accomplished his first year in office. The following year, Larson negotiated with Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York to build the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan to Weehawken, New Jersey. That year he also married his secretary, a Danish native named Adda Schmidt. His first wife, Jennie, had died in 1927.

          After the Stock Market crash of 1929, the country fell into the Great Depression. Larson did all he could to avoid the economic downturn but the growing unemployment in the state doomed the rest of his administration. Like many people, Larson believed in a Protestant work ethic and the free enterprise system, but the growing depression called those ideas into question. Many parallels were drawn between Governor Larson and President Herbert Hoover. Both were engineers who came from humble backgrounds whose administrations were undone by the Great Depression. Because of the state constitution, Larson could not run again in 1931 (you can't succeed yourself). The governor, A. Harry Moore, who he replaced in 1929, replaced him in 1932.

          After leaving the statehouse, Larson continued to work as an engineer for the Port Authority of New York. However, the Great Depression had seriously hurt him financially. In 1945, Governor Walter E. Edge appointed Larson to the Department of Conservation, which he held until 1949. Larson died at home at age 78 and is buried along side his first wife Jennie. His second wife Adda was buried next to him when she passed away in 1985.

            Hoffman was the 17th governor to join the list. He was an easy one to get being in South Amboy. I picked this photo up in August of 2003. Christ Church Cemetery is easy to find. It's on South Pine street just off route 35. However, it took a little while to find the governor. The cemetery is not very big and I actually passed him twice without knowing it. However, I spotted him after about a 45 minute search.

         Hoffman will be forever linked to one of the most sensational events in the first half of the 20th century. He was governor during the Lindbergh baby kidnapping trial also known as the "Trial of the Century" (or at least the first one).

         After Hoffman graduated from the South Amboy High School in 1913 he worked for a few years with a newspaper. Upon the United States entry into the First World War, Hoffman enlisted into the United States Army. In France, he rose to the rank of captain in the 3rd New Jersey Infantry. After the war, he became a banker and was involved in local politics, even serving as South Amboy's mayor from 1925 to 1926. He married Lillie Moss and they had three children. A Republican, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms (March 4, 1927 - March 3, 1931). He chose not to run again and instead became motor vehicle commissioner of New Jersey.

        In 1934, Hoffman ran for and won the election for governor. The incumbent governor, A. Harry Moore, was not allowed to run due to the state constitution. Hoffman defeated Democrat William L. Dill. Years before his election on March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator had his son kidnapped from their home in Hopewell, New Jersey. The baby, Charles Jr.'s, body was discovered two months later. A German immigrant, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was arrested for the crime over two years later. In a sensational trial in Flemington, New Jersey, that lasted only six weeks in 1935, he was convicted of murder. Ironically, the trial actually began on January 15, the day Hoffman was sworn in as governor. 

        Hauptmann maintained his innocence to the last and was visited in his jail cell by Governor Hoffman in December of 1935. In February of 1936, Hoffman granted Hauptmann a 30-day stay of execution which was very unpopular with everyone. It appears to some that Hoffman had serious misgivings about Hauptmann's guilt. A Board of Pardons, on which Hoffman was a member, rejected Hauptmann's appeal by a vote of 7 to 1. Hoffman was the lone vote in favor of Hauptmann. There was little else Hoffman could do, at the time, New Jersey governors did not have the power to commute a death sentence. Hauptmann was electrocuted in Trenton on April 3, 1936. 

        The case hurt Hoffman politically. He did not want Hauptmann executed. There were calls for his impeachment, but Hoffman persisted in his claim that he only wanted to see justice done. It's not sure whether he thought Hauptmann was innocent or he felt that Hauptmann was not alone and he wanted to find out who the accomplices were. After the trial, Hoffman launched his own investigation.

        After his three-year term as governor, he became the Executive Director of the New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Commission until the United States entry into World War II. During the war, Hoffman again served in the army. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before discharged in 1946. He returned to run the New Jersey Unemployment Compensation Commission again until his death in 1954 at the age of 58. Hoffman died of a heart attack in a hotel room in New York City. After his death, a posthumous confession by Hoffman stated that he stole $300,000 while serving in the Unemployment Compensation Commission. 

         In 1996, the cable channel, HBO, released a movie about the Lindbergh kidnapping called Crime of the Century. In the movie, actor Michael Moriarty portrayed Governor Hoffman.

        The high school in South Amboy was named Harold G. Hoffman High School. Hoffman is one of only two New Jersey governors to have had high school named after them (the other is A. Harry Moore High School in Jersey City). In the late 1990's, a new high school was built in South Amboy named South Amboy High School (the old building is still standing), however, the South Amboy High School's mascot is still the Governor in honor of Hoffman [Special thanks to Jon Bouchard of South Amboy for this information].
 

          Edison was the 32nd governor to join my list. He was relatively easy to get. My wife and I took a leisurely drive through Essex County one Sunday in July of 2007. We stopped for some hot dogs at Rutt's Hut in Clifton first. After visiting Edison's mausoleum in Rosedale Cemetery, we drove to Edison's home, Glenmont, which is nearby. After entering secluded Llewellyn Park, we took a guided tour of the home Charles Edison was born in. The house, which is run by the National Park Service, was recently renovated. His parents, Thomas and Mina are buried behind the house.  

        Edison is the oldest son of famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison with his second wife Mina. He was born at his parents' home, Glenmont, in West Orange, and later attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During World War I, he assisted his father in developing naval weapons. It was here that he became friends with assistant secretary of the navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. He married his college sweetheart Carolyn Hawkins on March 27, 1918. They had no children. For a number of years Charles Edison ran Edison Records. Charles became president of his father's company Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1927, and ran it until it was sold in 1959.

        Edison, like his family, was a Republican until the early 1930's when, in response to the New Deal programs initiated during the Great Depression, he became the only family member to become a Democrat. In 1937, President Roosevelt appointed Charles Edison as Assistant Secretary of the Navy mainly because Edison agreed with Roosevelt that the U.S. Navy needed to be the strongest in the world. After the death of Secretary Claude A. Swanson in 1939, Roosevelt named Edison Acting Secretary on January 2, 1940. Edison remained in this position until June 24, resigning to run his gubernatorial campaign.

        During his time in the Navy department, he was responsible for many improvements that would become critical in the upcoming Second World War. He saw the danger posed by dive-bombers to naval ships. He pushed for the development of fast destroyers, torpedo-bombers and torpedo boats. He also stopped the sale of a number of obsolete World War I destroyers that were later given to Great Britain in the early days of the war. Edison also advocated construction of the large Iowa-class battleships, and that one of them be built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which secured votes for Roosevelt in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1940 presidential election; in return, Roosevelt had BB-62 named the USS New Jersey (today it is a floating museum in Camden).

        In 1940, he resigned from the Naval Department and with Roosevelt's encouragement decided to run for Governor of New Jersey. At the time, New Jersey was still under the influence of Jersey City mayor Frank Hague's political machine. Edison abhorred Hague's machine politics. Edison neither asked for, nor sought, Hague's aid. On the contrary, he had gone to great lengths and personal expense to distance himself from the Democratic party boss, even going so far as to proclaim, "I would rather be respected than elected." He hoped, after winning, to re-write the state constitution and reform elections. Edison attacked Hague's political corruption during the campaign, especially his control of the courts.

        Edison's one term as governor was not very successful. The state legislature was controlled by Republicans which limited his ability to do what he wanted. He also quickly made an enemy of Hague, the state's most powerful Democrat, by resisting many of Hague's influences. He removed the direct phone line between the governor's office and Hague's office in Jersey City. Hague removed as many of Hague's men from state office as he could. Hague retaliated by blocking many of Edison's reforms. Edison denounced Hague with radio addresses calling him 'corrupt' and 'dictatorial.' He proposed updating the old New Jersey State Constitution of 1844 to remove many of the forms of patronage that Hague used so successfully. The constitution was also archaic in that it limited his term to three years and didn't allow anyone to secede himself, allowed an override of a veto with a simple majority and limited the power of the governor who had to share power with over 80 boards and commissions. Although it failed in a referendum and nothing was changed during his tenure, state legislators did reform the constitution in 1947.

        He decided not run for re-election in 1943, but was determined to be followed by an anti-Hague Democrat. However, this didn't happen as Hague was too powerful and had his man, Newark mayor Vincent J. Murphy, nominated. Edison stayed out of the election and ultimately Murphy was defeated by Republican Walter E. Edge (former 36th governor of New Jersey).

        After leaving politics in 1944, Edison resumed his position as president of Thomas A. Edison Inc. which merged with the McGraw Electric Company in 1957 to form the McGraw-Edison Company (In 1985, McGraw-Edison was purchased by Cooper Industries of Houston, Texas). In 1948, he established a charitable foundation, originally called "The Brook Foundation", now the Charles Edison Fund. He remained active in politics and supported John V. Kenny's overthrow of the Hague Machine in 1948 (though Kenny later proved to be as corrupt as Hague). Edison opposed the growing power of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, under Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower and Democratic president John F. Kennedy. In 1963, he officially joined the New York Conservative Party.

        Between 1951 and 1969, he lived in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, where he struck up a friendship with Herbert Hoover, who also lived there. In 1963, his wife Carolyn died. Edison himself died in New York on July 31, 1969, three days shy of his 79th birthday leaving an estate of over $10 million, most of which went to the Charles Edison Fund. His personal mascot was the owl, and he collected objects depicting owls.
 

          Driscoll was the 37th governor to join my list. My wife Debbie and I took a leisurely drive through Camden County one Saturday in June of 2010. Driscoll was in the Haddonfield Baptist Churchyard in Haddonfield. Its a small cemetery on a tree-lined street. He was easy to find. After Driscoll, we than got Governor Cahill in Cherry Hill. The two are not far apart. Afterwards, we drove into Philadelphia for cheesesteak sandwiches at Pat's King of Steaks and then we spent the afternoon in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  

        Alfred Eastlack Driscoll, a Presbyterian, the son of Alfred and Mattie Driscoll, was a very good student. He graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1925, and was awarded an LL.B. degree from Harvard University in 1928. He married Antoinette Ware Tatum and they had three children. After establishing his legal career in Camden, New Jersey, Driscoll, a Republican, entered into local politics. From 1938 to 1941, as a "clean government", he was elected to the New Jersey State Senate; and in 1941 he was named the State Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner. From here he established a state-wide reputation as a watchdog of a scandal-plagued industry. He was also a member of Governor Walter Edge's administration.

            In 1946, Driscoll ran for governor. He easily defeated fellow Republican and former governor Harold Hoffman for the Republican nomination. He than defeated the Democrat nominee Hudson County judge Lewis Hansen on November 5, 1946 to become the 43rd governor.

                As governor, he was a proponent for the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. When completed, these two major transportation links would transform the agrarian "Garden State" into one of the most densely populated states in the country. The Driscoll Bridge (photo below) on the Garden State Parkway across the Raritan River was named in his honor.

           He was also instrumental in the purchase of Island State Beach Park and for improvements made to Sandy Hook State Park. He ended segregation in public schools and guaranteed the right to collective bargaining for labor unions.

            He gave William J. Brennan his first judicial appointment in 1949. It was a seat on the New Jersey Superior Court. In 1951, Driscoll promoted Brennan to the New Jersey Supreme Court, where he served until appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.

            When Driscoll was elected in 1946, the term was for three years. During his first term, he was behind getting the state constitution revised, changing the governor's term to a four-year term. In 1949, Driscoll was narrowly re-elected to a second term, defeating Democrat Elmer H. Wene, and would be the first to serve a four-year term. Driscoll served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention  from New Jersey in 1948 and 1952. In 1952, he was considered a potential running mate for Eisenhower (the Republicans choose Richard M. Nixon instead). He was offered positions in the Eisenhower administration but turned them down to be on the president of Warner-Hudnut pharmaceutical company  (today Warner-Lambert Co.).

       

         I had a hockey meeting in September of 2002 in Lawrenceville Prep and than had to drive to Blairstown, New Jersey for a school retreat. I decided to drive up along the Delaware River on the Pennsylvania side. I started at Washington's Crossing (site of the famous Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River in 1776) and drove north on Rt. 32. It is an exceptionally scenic drive through small towns like New Hope and along the Delaware Canal. I eventually made it to Easton, Pennsylvania and stopped for lunch. Philipsburg is across the river. After lunch, I drove over and went to the cemetery on Fillmore Street. It was easy enough to find. I didn't know the burial location, but since it is a small cemetery I just walked down the path. Luckily, it was in the back next to the path. I would not have seen it because of the size of the marker, but luckily his parents marker was next to his and easily seen. after snapping the photo, I was back on the road to Blairstown.

       After being born in Easton, Pennsylvania, Meyner's family moved to New Jersey. First living in Phillipsburg and then Paterson before returning to settle in Phillipsburg when he was 14. After graduating from Phillipsburg High School in 1926, Lafayette College (with a major in Government and Law), which is across the river in Easton, in 1930 and Columbia Law School in 1933, he began his practice in Hudson County in Union City and Jersey City. Meyner moved back to Phillipsburg three years later to run his own practice and enter politics. He was a lieutenant in the United States Navy during World War II where he saw active duty on board a merchant ship in Europe and represented enlisted men as defense counsel in court martial cases. After the war, he returned to politics. He lost a congressional race in 1946 to the infamous J. Parnell Thomas but won a state senate seat in warren County the following year by defeating Republican Wayne Dumont, Jr. He would eventually rising to be the minority leader. While in the state senate, he cast the only no vote against the creation of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Despite all of his work, he was defeated for re-election in 1951 by Dumont.

       Looking like his career was washed up; Meyner emerged in 1952 as a nomination for the Democratic candidate for governor. He went up against a South Jersey Democrat, Elmer H. Wene. People thought that Meyner being Roman Catholic would work against him. Jersey City's Frank Hague and his dying political machine supported Wene. Jersey City's new political boss, John V. Kenny supported Meyner, which gave him the edge to be nominated. Meyner's battle was still uphill considering that the Republicans held the governor's office for the previous ten years. Meyner faced Republican Paul L. Troast, a former chairman of the Turnpike Authority. During the campaign, Troast was implicated in trying to influence the prison sentence of a convicted labor racketeer and gambler, which swung the election in Meyner's favor.

       As governor, Meyner went against his own party leader's wishes by putting men he thought were best for the job in positions of importance. Despite Republican majorities in both houses of the legislature in his first term and a Republican Senate in his second term, Meyner succeeded in enacting his legislative proposals and building the Democratic Party in New Jersey. Meyner was known for his commitment to an open government, the promotion of rigid law enforcement, and the exposure of crime and corruption. Meyner increased state aid to education (including making Rutgers University a state university), worked to establish the "Green Acres" open space preservation system and oversaw the completion of the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Palisades Interstate Parkway. On July 1, 1955, Meyner became the first person to cross the Paramus toll plaza, effectively opening the 165 miles of the parkway from Cape May to Paramus. Strangely enough, Meyner vetoed the legislature that put New Jersey's nickname, "The Garden State" on the state's license plates. He felt that there was no official recognition of the slogan (the veto was overridden).

         Meyner married Helen Day Stevenson, distant cousin of Adlai Stevenson, on January 19, 1957 at Oberlin, Ohio, and the couple moved into the recently refurbished Governor's mansion, Morven, in Princeton, New Jersey. He was known as the "Glamorous Governor of New Jersey". Despite a Republican swing in the country that swept Dwight Eisenhower into The White House the year before; Meyner easily cruised to a re-election victory over Republican Senator Malcolm S. Forbes. He was the first governor in the history of New Jersey to be elected to consecutive four-year terms. 

       Meyner became a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1960 and hoped to gain some national prominence. In the Convention, Meyner gained the spotlight by joining Lyndon B. Johnson and Stuart Symington in an attempt to block the nomination of John F. Kennedy for president. Meyner's refusal to allow his delegation to vote for Kennedy cost New Jersey the honor of being the deciding state. However, in the national election, Meyner ran Kennedy's campaign in New Jersey. After this, his political career began to go downhill.

       After completing his second term in 1962, Meyner returned to private law practice in Newark and Phillipsburg. Meyner won the Democratic nomination for the governorship of New Jersey again in 1969, but lost badly in the general election to Republican William T. Cahill. In 1974, his wife, Helen, was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served two terms. She was defeated for re-election in 1978. 

       It has been said of Meyner, that as governor, he was efficient and economical. He may not have made many changes in New Jersey, but he was a good administrator. He died at the age of 81. His wife died on November 2, 1997, in Captiva Island, Florida, where she lived after the death of her husband. The Reception Center at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel was named after Governor Meyner.

       There is a living legacy to him and his wife, namely, the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government at Lafayette College, his alma mater, in Easton, Pennsylvania.  The Meyner's also endowed the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Professorship of Government and Public Service at Lafayette College. 

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