{{short description|American businessman and politician (1924–2009)}} {{About||the American football player|Bruce King (American football)|the psychologist|Bruce M. King|the chemist|R. Bruce King}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Bruce King | image = Governor Bruce King.jpg | alt = | caption = | order1 = 23rd, 25th and 28th | office1 = Governor of New Mexico | term_start1 = January 1, 1991 | term_end1 = January 1, 1995 | lieutenant1 = [[Casey Luna]] | predecessor1 = [[Garrey Carruthers]] | successor1 = [[Gary Johnson]] | predecessor2 = [[Jerry Apodaca]] | successor2 = [[Toney Anaya]] | term_start2 = January 1, 1979 | term_end2 = January 1, 1983 | lieutenant2 = [[Roberto Mondragón]] | predecessor3 = [[David Cargo]] | successor3 = [[Jerry Apodaca]] | term_start3 = January 1, 1971 | term_end3 = January 1, 1975 | lieutenant3 = [[Roberto Mondragón]] | office4 = Member of the {{nowrap|[[New Mexico House of Representatives]]}} | term4 = 1959–1970 | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|4|6}} | birth_place = [[Stanley, New Mexico]], U.S. | death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|2009|11|13|1924|4|6}}}} | death_place = [[Stanley, New Mexico]], U.S. | resting_place = Stanley Cemetery | party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] | spouse = {{marriage|[[Alice M. King|Alice King]]|1947|2008|end=her death}} | children = Bill King<br>[[Gary King (politician)|Gary King]] | profession = [[Businesspeople|Businessman]]<br>[[politician]] | alma_mater = [[University of New Mexico]] | allegiance = {{flag|United States|1912}} | branch = {{army|United States}} | service_years = 1942–1946 | battles = [[World War II]] }}
'''Bruce King''' (April 6, 1924 – November 13, 2009) was an American businessman and politician who for three non-consecutive four-year terms was the governor of [[New Mexico]]. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he was the longest-serving [[governor]] in New Mexico history, with 12 years of service.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Bruce |date=2009-11-14 |title=Bruce King, 3-Term Governor, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14king.html |access-date=2026-05-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Early life, education, and early political career== King was born on April 6, 1924, in [[Stanley, New Mexico]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haussaman |first=Heath |title=Former Gov. Bruce King dies at 85 |url=https://nmpolitics.net/index/2009/11/former-gov-bruce-king-dies/ |url-status=live |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=nmpolitics.net}}</ref> He served in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] during [[World War II]]. After the war, he attended the [[University of New Mexico]] in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]], [[New Mexico]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Legendary 3 term NM Governor Bruce King dies at 85 - The Classical Music Guide Forums |url=https://classicalmusicguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=32142 |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=classicalmusicguide.com}}</ref>
King's career in politics began when he was elected to the [[Santa Fe County, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] Board of County Commissioners in 1954.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2011-01-01 |title=Bruce King |url=https://www.nga.org/governor/bruce-king/ |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=National Governors Association}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of County Commissioners to Honor Governor Bruce King |url=https://www.santafecountynm.gov/news/detail/board-of-county-commissioners-to-honor-governor-bruce-king |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=www.santafecountynm.gov |language=en}}</ref> He was re-elected and served as the chairman of the board during his second term.
In 1959, he was elected to the [[New Mexico House of Representatives]].<ref name=":0" /> He served five consecutive terms in the House and during three of his terms he was [[Speaker (politics)|Speaker of the House]]. From 1968 to 1969, King was chairman of the state [[Democratic Party of New Mexico|Democratic Party]]. In 1969, he was also the president of the State Constitutional Convention.
==Governor of New Mexico== {{unreferenced section|date=August 2017}} [[File:1990 New Mexico gubernatorial election results map by county.svg|thumb|left|County results of the [[1990 New Mexico gubernatorial election]]]] In 1970, King was elected governor, defeating Republican [[Pete Domenici]]. He served as the [[List of governors of New Mexico|23rd, 25th and 28th Governor of New Mexico]] from 1971 until 1975, 1979 until 1983 and from 1991 until 1995.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-01-01 |title=Bruce King |url=https://www.nga.org/governor/bruce-king/ |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=National Governors Association |archive-date=2026-02-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208054650/https://www.nga.org/governor/bruce-king/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His terms were non-consecutive because the New Mexico constitution did not allow governors to succeed themselves before 1991, due to [[Term limits in the United States|term limits]].
King became the first governor who could succeed himself after the term limit laws were changed and ran for reelection [[New Mexico gubernatorial election, 1994|in 1994]], but was defeated for a fourth term by Republican businessman [[Gary Johnson]].
After the [[Church Rock uranium mill spill]] of 1979, King refused the Navajo Nation's request that the site be declared a [[Disaster area|federal disaster area]], limiting aid to affected residents. The spill was the largest release of radioactive material in U.S. history, having released more radioactivity than the [[Three Mile Island accident]] four months earlier.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pasley |first=James |title=Inside the Navajo Church Rock Nuclear Disaster, the largest radioactive disaster in US history that's somehow often forgotten |url=https://www.insider.com/photos-church-rock-the-largest-radioactive-disaster-us-history-2023-6 |access-date=2023-09-13 |website=Insider |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Personal life== King was married to his wife Alice for 61 years until her death on December 7, 2008. In 1974, as governor, Bruce and Alice co-founded the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts to celebrate the contribution of local artists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts |url=https://www.newmexicoculture.org/arts/governors-awards-for-excellence-in-the-arts |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=www.newmexicoculture.org |language=en}}</ref> Together they had two children, Bill and Gary. Their son [[Gary King (politician)|Gary King]] served as [[New Mexico Attorney General]] from 2007 to 2015 and was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=KRWG |date=2009-11-14 |title=Former Governor Bruce King Dies |url=https://www.krwg.org/regional/2009-11-13/former-governor-bruce-king-dies |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=KRWG Public Media |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alice King Obituary December 7, 2008 |url=https://www.harris-hanlonmortuary.com/obituaries/888949 |access-date=2025-12-30 |website=Harris-Hanlon Mortuary |language=en}}</ref>
King was recovering from a procedure in September 2009 to adjust the [[Artificial cardiac pacemaker|pacemaker]] that was implanted after he had a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] in 1997. He died on November 13, 2009, in [[Stanley, New Mexico]], at the age of 85.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Former-Gov--Bruce-King-dies|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120909173749/http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Former-Gov--Bruce-King-dies|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 9, 2012|title=Former Gov. Bruce King dies|work=[[Santa Fe New Mexican]]|date=November 13, 2009}}</ref>
==Bibliography== *Becknell, Charles Sr. (2003) "No Challenge, No Change: Growing Up Black in New Mexico" Jubilee Publications. {{ISBN|978-0-9744573-0-7}} *Colvin, Mark (1982). "The 1980 New Mexico Prison Riot." ''Social Problems'' 29. *Colvin, Mark (1992). "The Penitentiary in Crisis". ''Accommodation to Riot in New Mexico'', State University of New York Press. *King, Bruce (1998). ''Cowboy in the Roundhouse: A Political Life''. Santa Fe: Sunstone Press. *McCaffery, Fred (February 14, 1979). "Political Game Snares Becknell" ''New Mexican Opinion'' *"New Report Describes Events Surrounding New Mexico Prison Riot". (June 8, 1980). ''[[The New York Times]]''.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave|44302395}} * {{C-SPAN|17039}}
{{S-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=[[Fabian Chavez Jr.]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of New Mexico]]|years=[[1970 New Mexico gubernatorial election|1970]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Jerry Apodaca]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Jerry Apodaca]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of New Mexico]]|years=[[1978 New Mexico gubernatorial election|1978]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Toney Anaya]]}} {{s-bef|before=Ray Powell}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of New Mexico]]|years=[[1990 New Mexico gubernatorial election|1990]], [[1994 New Mexico gubernatorial election|1994]]}} {{s-aft|after=[[Martin Chávez]]}} {{S-off}} {{Succession box|before=[[David Cargo]]|years=January 1, 1971 – January 1, 1975|title=[[List of governors of New Mexico|Governor of New Mexico]]|after=[[Jerry Apodaca]]}} {{Succession box|before=[[Jerry Apodaca]]|years=January 1, 1979 – January 1, 1983|title=[[List of governors of New Mexico|Governor of New Mexico]]|after=[[Toney Anaya]]}} {{Succession box|before=[[Garrey Carruthers]]|years=January 1, 1991 – January 1, 1995|title=[[List of governors of New Mexico|Governor of New Mexico]]|after=[[Gary Johnson]]}} {{S-end}}
{{Governors of New Mexico}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Bruce}} [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:2009 deaths]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:County commissioners in New Mexico]] [[Category:Democratic Party governors of New Mexico]] [[Category:Military personnel from New Mexico]] [[Category:People from Stanley, New Mexico]] [[Category:Speakers of the New Mexico House of Representatives]] [[Category:Democratic Party members of the New Mexico House of Representatives]] [[Category:State political party chairs of New Mexico]] [[Category:University of New Mexico alumni]] [[Category:20th-century members of the New Mexico Legislature]]