{{Short description|American politician (1912–2001)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Meldrim Thomson.jpg | order = 73rd | office = Governor of New Hampshire | term_start = January 4, 1973 | term_end = January 4, 1979 | lieutenant = | predecessor = Walter R. Peterson Jr. | successor = Hugh J. Gallen | birth_name = Meldrim Thomson Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date text|March 8, 1912|March 8, 1912}} | birth_place = Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2001|4|19|1912|03|8}} | death_place = Orford, New Hampshire, U.S. | party = Republican | other_party = American Independent (1970) | spouse = {{marriage|Anne Gale Kelly|1938}} | children = 6 | profession = Politician }}
'''Meldrim Thomson Jr.''' (March 8, 1912 – April 19, 2001) was an American politician who served three terms as the 73rd governor of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1979. A Republican, he was known as a staunch conservative.
==Early life==
Thomson was born in 1912 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Meldrim and Marion (Booth) Thomson, and was raised in Georgia and Florida.<ref name="Union Leader">{{cite news |title=Gov. Meldrim Thomson dies at Orford home at 89|url=http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=13959 |work=Union Leader|location=Manchester, NH|date=April 20, 2001|access-date=March 2, 2025|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010429083453/http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=13959|archive-date=April 29, 2001}}</ref> He was an Eagle Scout.<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorial Services |work=The Tequstra Scouter Drumbeat |date=May 2001 |url=http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/tequesta/05.01_tequesta_drumbeat.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320002732/http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/tequesta/05.01_tequesta_drumbeat.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-20}}</ref> Thomson attended Mercer University, Washington and Jefferson College, and the University of Georgia School of Law and was admitted to the practice of law in Florida in 1936.<ref>{{Cite web| last = Bastedo | first =Russell | title = Publications - A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998 | publisher = New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources | url = http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/thommeld.html}}</ref>
In 1938, he married his secretary, Anne Gale Kelly. They had six children.<ref name="New Hampshire Sunday News"/>
Thomson made his fortune publishing law books, founding the Equity Publishing Corporation in 1952. In both English and Spanish, it published the laws of New Hampshire, Vermont, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. In 1955, he moved his family to New Hampshire and began advocating for education and tax policy.<ref name="New Hampshire Sunday News">{{cite news|title=Meldrim Thomson Jr.: A conservative life|url= https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AMNEWS&req_dat=0D10F2CADB4B24C0&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F0F544F47A0D38DD1|work=New Hampshire Sunday News|date=April 22, 2001|page=A14|access-date=April 5, 2025|via=Newslibrary}}</ref>
==Political career== In 1966, as chairman of the Orford School Board, Thomson refused to accept federal education aid because he said there were too many strings attached. He lost races for governor in Republican primaries in 1968 and 1970, running again in the 1970 general election on the third-party American Independent party. Receiving 10% of the vote <ref>{{cite news|title=For N.H. Gov. Thomson Says He Is Through Running For Public Office|publisher=Boston Globe|date= June 11, 1988}}<!--|access-date=2007-02-25--></ref>
==Governor of New Hampshire==
===Elections=== In 1972, Thomson ran for governor again as a Republican. He defeated governor Walter R. Peterson Jr. In the Republican primary and faced Democrat Robert J. Crowley. In the general election he pledged to veto any new sales or income tax that was put on his desk, and he further promised not to raise existing taxes.<ref name="Union Leader"/> Thomson was elected governor defeating Crowley 41% to 39%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=33&year=1972&f=0&off=5&elect=0|title=1972 Gubernatorial General Election Results - New Hampshire|publisher=US Election Atlas|date=September 15, 2009|access-date=March 24, 2025}}</ref>
In 1974, Thomson ran for a second term against Democrat Richard W. Leonard. Thomson was narrowly reelected, defeating Leonard 51% to 49%. In 1976, Thomson ran for a third term against Democrat Harry V. Spanos. He was re-elected in a landslide 58% to 42%. In 1978, Thomson ran for a fourth term, defeating former governor Wesley Powell in the Republican primary and faced Democrat Hugh Gallen. In the general election, Powell ran as an independent, splitting the Republican vote. Thomson lost re-election to Gallen 49% to 45%.<ref>{{cite web|title=NH Governor|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=174358|website=Our Campaigns|access-date=1 February 2015}}</ref> In 1980, Thomson initially ran for president as a third party candidate but dropped out and ran for governor again as a Republican, defeating Lou D'Allesandro for Republican nomination. Facing Gallen in a rematch, Thomson was defeated in a landslide 59% to 41%. In 1982, he ran for governor as an independent, getting just 2% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.statemaster.com/graph/gov_us_gub_ele_1982_ele_res_opp_can-1982-election-results-opposing-candidates |title=US Gubernatorial Elections, 1982 election results statistics - states compared - Statemaster |access-date=2012-02-02 |archive-date=2013-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117004612/http://www.statemaster.com/graph/gov_us_gub_ele_1982_ele_res_opp_can-1982-election-results-opposing-candidates |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Tenure=== [[File:Senator Bob Smith with former Governor Meldrim Thomson.jpg|thumb|right|Thomson and his wife meet with Senator Bob Smith]] Thomson coined the slogans "Low taxes are the result of low spending" and "Ax the Tax" to represent his fiscal philosophy. He was also a strong proponent of state sovereignty. When Thomson learned that Massachusetts tax agents were at New Hampshire liquor stores taking down the numbers on cars with Massachusetts license plates, he had them arrested.<ref>[http://archive.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2007/07/02/A_bluer_shade_of_granite/ Bluer shades of granite - Boston.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> When he learned that Maine had arrested a Portsmouth, New Hampshire lobsterman, in Maine waters, he began what was known as the "Lobster war."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081214074800/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879215,00.html NEW ENGLAND: Lobster War], ''TIME'' (July 2, 1973)</ref> The conflict ended in the U.S. Supreme Court with the drawing of an ocean boundary between the two states at the mouth of the Piscataqua River.<ref>Kenneth T. Palmer, et al. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=cf1hioVswJoC&pg=PA190 Maine Politics and Government]'', pg. 190</ref>
In 1978, Thomson appointed David Souter to the Superior Court bench. Souter would later become a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomson also appointed Ivorey Cobb, the first African-American judge in New Hampshire state history, to the New Hampshire Commission for Civil Rights.<ref name=gbook>{{cite book|title=The New Hampshire Century: "Concord Monitor" Profiles of One Hundred People Who Shaped It |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeXl-jdJlCkC&q=gale+thomson+new+hampshire&pg=PA219 |date=2001 |isbn=9781584650874|access-date=2015-04-16|last1=Belman|first1=Felice|last2=Pride|first2=Mike}}</ref>
==Controversies== During his governorship, and thereafter, Thomson took the following actions:
*in 1976 and 1977 he ordered the flag at the statehouse to be flown at half-staff including on Good Friday to "memorialise the death of Christ on the Cross."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qno8DwAAQBAJ&q=ordering+the+flag+half-staff+on+Good+Friday+new+hampshire+thompson&pg=PA48|title = David Hackett Souter: Traditional Republican on the Rehnquist Court|isbn = 9780195159332|last = Yarbrough|first = Tinsley E.|date = 22 September 2005| publisher=Oxford University Press, USA }}</ref> *during the 1977 anti-nuclear demonstrations at the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station, he was brought in by helicopter to order the arrest of 1,400 protesters.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/29/nuclear_reaction/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070501032101/http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/29/nuclear_reaction/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 1, 2007 |title=Nuclear reaction |author=Steven Rosenberg |date=April 29, 2007 |publisher=The Boston Globe |access-date=2013-10-24}}</ref> *personally arresting speeders from his official car.<ref>{{cite news|title=Really a Bellwether?|author=Richard M. Detwiler|work=The New York Times|date= November 23, 1975}}<!--|access-date=2007-02-25--></ref> *visiting South Africa in 1978 and then praising the government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19780130&id=XhISAAAAIBAJ&pg=6766,4934032 |title=Clergy raps N.H. Governor |publisher=The Spokesman-Review |date=January 30, 1978 |access-date=2013-10-24 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> *sending out a press release in 1977 saying that he wanted journalists to keep the "Christ" in Christmas and not call it Xmas, which, he asserted, was a pagan spelling of Christmas<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JYMuAAAAIBAJ&pg=912,1874288&dq=xmas+christmas+x&hl=en |title=X-mas is 'X'ing out Christ' |publisher=The Montreal Gazette |date=December 8, 1977 |access-date=2013-10-24}}</ref>
==1980 presidential election bid== Thomson was one of Ronald Reagan's staunchest supporters in 1976, as the former California governor challenged President Gerald Ford for the Republican presidential nomination. Thomson was dismayed by Reagan's announcement that he would select moderate Republican Senator Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania as his running mate should he win the nomination.<ref>{{cite news|title=Former New Hampshire governor Meldrim Thomson Jr.|newspaper=The Washington Post|date= March 26, 1979}}<!--|access-date=2007-02-25--></ref>
After he was defeated in 1978, Thomson left the Republican party to form his own Constitution Party. However, after getting on the presidential general-election ballot in Alabama, Kansas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Maine, his campaign contributions dried up when it was evident that Ronald Reagan was going to win the Republican nomination for president. Thomson then ended his campaign for president and returned to the Republican Party.<ref>{{cite news|title=An Old Warrior Jousts in New Hampshire For Old Job|work=The New York Times|date=August 24, 1980}}<!--|access-date=2007-02-25--></ref>
==Later years, death, and honors==
After retiring from politics, Thomson wrote a column for ''The Union Leader'' and worked on his maple sugar farm.<ref name=NYT>{{cite web|last=Marquis|first=Christopher|title=Meldrim Thomson, 89, Former Governor of New Hampshire, Dies|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2001/04/20/obituaries/20THOM.html|work=The New York Times|date=April 20, 2001|access-date=April 5, 2025}}</ref> Thomson died in 2001 aged 89 from Parkinson's disease and heart problems in Orford, New Hampshire.<ref name="Union Leader"/><ref name=NYT />
In 2002, the state named both a state building and state road in honor of Thomson. The state office complex on Hazen Drive in Concord was named "Meldrim Thomson Jr. State Office Complex." A 16-mile stretch of Route 25A, where his Mt. Cube Farm lined both sides of the road, was named the "Governor Meldrim Thomson Scenic Highway."
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *[http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/thommeld.html Thomson at New Hampshire's Division of Historic Resources] *{{cite news |first=Jeffrey |last=Hart |publisher=National Review |title=Meldrim Thomson, R.I.P - former New Hampshire governor - Brief Article - Obituary |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_9_53/ai_73640865 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041204203342/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_9_53/ai_73640865 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2004-12-04 |date=2001-05-14 |access-date=2007-09-04 }}
*{{cite news |first=Adolphe V.; Associated Press |last=Bernotas |url=http://archive.seacoastonline.com/2001news/4_20b.htm |title=Former Gov. Thomson dead at 89 |work=Portsmouth Herald |date=2001-04-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929092924/http://archive.seacoastonline.com/2001news/4_20b.htm |archive-date=2007-09-29 |access-date=2013-10-24 }}
{{S-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-new|first}} {{s-ttl|title=American Party nominee for Governor of New Hampshire|years=1970}} {{s-aft|after=None}} {{s-bef|before=Walter R. Peterson Jr.}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for Governor of New Hampshire|years=1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980}} {{s-aft|after=John H. Sununu}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Governor of New Hampshire | before=Walter R. Peterson Jr. | after=Hugh J. Gallen | years=1973–1979}} {{s-end}}
{{Governors of New Hampshire}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Meldrim Jr.}} Category:1912 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in New Hampshire Category:Governors of New Hampshire Category:People from Orford, New Hampshire Category:People from Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania Category:Mercer University alumni Category:Washington & Jefferson College alumni Category:University of Georgia School of Law alumni Category:New Hampshire Republicans Category:Republican Party governors of New Hampshire Category:New Hampshire independents Category:New Right (United States) Category:20th-century New Hampshire politicians