Dennis CHAVEZ, Congress, NM (1888-1962)

CHAVEZ, Dennis, a Representative and a Senator from New Mexico; born in Los Chavez, Valencia County, N.Mex., April 8, 1888; attended the public schools; worked as a grocer’s clerk as a boy and later in the engineering department of the city of Albuquerque; travelled to Washington in 1917 with Senator Andrieus A. Jones and served as clerk in the office of the Secretary of the United States Senate 1917-1920; graduated from the law department of Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 1920; admitted to the bar in 1920 and commenced practice in Albuquerque, N.Mex.; member, State house of representatives 1923-1924; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second and Seventy-third Congresses (March 4, 1931-January 3, 1935); chairman, Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation (Seventy-third Congress); did not seek renomination in 1934, but was an unsuccessful candidate for United States Senator; appointed as a Democrat on May 11, 1935, and elected on November 3, 1936, to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Bronson M. Cutting; reelected in 1940, 1946, 1952, and again in 1958, and served from May 11, 1935, until his death in Washington, D.C., November 18, 1962; chairman, Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Seventy-ninth Congress), Committee on Public Works (Eighty-first, Eighty-second, and Eighty-fourth through Eighty-seventh Congresses); interment in Mount Calvary Cemetery, Albuquerque, N.Mex.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Crouch, Barry. “Dennis Chavez and Roosevelt’s Court-Packing Plan.” New Mexico Historical Review 42 (October 1967): 261-80; Lujan, Roy. “Dennis Chavez and the National Agenda: 1933-1946.” New Mexico Historical Review 74 (January 1999): 55-74.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present