David Cargo

David Francis Cargo (January 13, 1929 – July 5, 2013) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 22nd governor of New Mexico between 1967 and 1971.<ref name="NM.bio">Template:Cite web</ref>

He was a member of the Republican Party.

Early life and education

Cargo was born in Dowagiac, Michigan,<ref name="NM.bio"/> the eldest of three children of Francis and Mary Harton Cargo.<ref name="google">Template:Cite book</ref> He received a Bachelor of Arts (1951), Master of Arts (1953), and in 1957, a L.L.B., all from the University of Michigan.<ref name="NM.bio"/>

Career

File:David Cargo (NM).png

Cargo as governor.

He represented the Albuquerque area in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967, when he was elected governor at the age of thirty-seven.<ref name="NM.bio" /> As a representative he won one of the first lawsuits forcing proportional representation in the state legislature.<ref name="NM.bio" /> He remains one of the youngest governors elected to date in U.S. history, along with Harold Stassen in Minnesota (1938), Bill Clinton in Arkansas (1978), Christopher "Kit" Bond and Matt Blunt in Missouri (1972) and (2004), respectively, and Bobby Jindal in Louisiana (2007).Template:Citation needed

Cargo ran for Governor in 1966, facing Clifford J. Hawley of Santa Fe in the Republican primary.<ref name="StPeteTimes">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1966, Cargo won with 17,836 (51.8 percent) to Hawley's 16,588 (48.2 percent).<ref name="AmVotes7">Template:Cite book</ref> He improved his primary performance in 1968, when he defeated Hawley, 28,014 (54.9 percent) to 23,052 (45.1 percent).<ref name="AmVotes8">Template:Cite book</ref>

Cargo won the general election of 1966, narrowly defeating Democrat Gene Lusk. Cargo received 134,625 votes (51.7 percent) to Lusk's 125,587 (48.3 percent).<ref name="AmVotes7" /> Running again in 1968, Cargo won by an even smaller margin, 160,140 (50.5 percent) to Democrat Fabian Chavez Jr.,'s 157,230 ballots (49.5 percent).<ref name="AmVotes8" />

As governor, Cargo established the state film commission, which brought millions of dollars in revenue to the state of New Mexico.<ref name="KRQEObit" /> Cargo established ties to Hollywood and was even asked to appear in several films.Template:Citation needed In 1971, he made a cameo appearance in Bunny O'Hare, starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine, as well as in Up in the Cellar (1970), starring Larry Hagman and Joan Collins. During his first campaign for governor, he was known as "Lonesome Dave."<ref name="KRQEObit" />

On May 8, 1970, Cargo sent National Guard troops to the UNM campus when Jane Fonda spoke to an estimated 700 protesters.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gathered to protest the Vietnam War and the Kent State massacre that had happened just four days earlier, the National Guard was given orders to end the protest and bayonetted 11 people, including students who were not part of the protest.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> A class action lawsuit was brought against Cargo and individual guardsmen by six of the bayonetting victims. A jury in Albuquerque eventually sided with Cargo, the National Guard, and the other politicians involved leaving victims to pay their own medical bills.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cargo could not seek a third two-year term in 1970 due to term limits.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Cargo ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970, but he lost the Republican primary to Anderson "Andy" Carter.<ref name="SFNMObit">Template:Cite news</ref> Carter polled 32,122 (57.8 percent) to Cargo's 17,951 (32.3 percent).<ref name="AmVotes9">Template:Cite book</ref> Andy Carter then lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Joseph Montoya.<ref name="AmVotes9" /> Cargo ran unsuccessfully for New Mexico's other Senate seat in 1972 but again lost the primary, this time to the eventual winner, Pete Domenici.<ref name="SFNMObit" />

From 1973 to 1985, Cargo lived in Lake Oswego, Oregon, and ran unsuccessfully for Oregon State Treasurer in 1984, placing third in the Republican primary won by appointed incumbent Bill Rutherford.<ref name="SFNMObit" />

After returning to New Mexico, Cargo won the Republican nomination for Congress in 1986 for New Mexico's 3rd congressional district but was defeated by the incumbent, Democrat Bill Richardson.<ref name=SFNMObit/> Cargo ran for mayor of Albuquerque in 1989 but placed third, and thus did not advance to the top-two runoff.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1993 he ran again but lost to Martin Chávez.<ref name=SFNMObit/> He tried for a gubernatorial comeback in 1994 but finished in fourth place with 13 percent in the primary and lost to the eventual winner, Gary Johnson.<ref name=94Primary>Template:Cite web</ref> Cargo made his final race in 1997 when he again contested the Albuquerque mayoralty, but he finished third and lost to Jim Baca.<ref name=Albu1997Results>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cargo continued to practice law in Albuquerque.<ref name="NM.bio"/> In 2010, he wrote an autobiography titled Lonesome Dave.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Library for the Luna Community College site in Mora, NM is named after David Cargo.

Personal life

Cargo and his wife, Ida Jo, had five children: Veronica, David, Patrick, Elena and Eamon.<ref name=KRQEObit>Template:Cite web</ref>

Cargo died at the age of eighty-four of complications of a stroke which he had two years earlier.<ref name=KRQEObit/>

External links

• David Francis Cargo entry at the National Governors Association

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