John Esten MILES, Congress, NM (1884-1971)

MILES, John Esten, a Representative from New Mexico; born in Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tenn., July 28, 1884; attended the grade schools of Rutherford County, Tenn.; in 1902 began farming in Fannin County, Tex., and in 1905 moved to Granite, Okla.; in 1906 moved to New Mexico and homesteaded on a farm near Endee, Quay County; purchased a general store in Endee, N.Mex., in 1918; member of the school board, 1918-1921; postmaster of Endee, 1917-1920; moved to Tucumcari in 1920 and served as county assessor of Quay County, 1920-1924; secretary of the State Tax Commission, 1925-1927; in 1927 was associate editor of the New Mexico Democrat and the Las Vegas Independent; again secretary of the State Tax Commission, 1931-1934; chief of the field division of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Albuquerque, N.Mex., in 1934; delegate to all Democratic National Conventions since 1936; Governor of New Mexico, 1939-1942; chairman, New Mexico Public Service Commission, 1943-1945; Commissioner of Public Lands, 1945-1948; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-first Congress (January 3, 1949-January 3, 1951) was not a candidate for reelection in 1950 but was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor; president of New Mexico School Book Depository; director of enforcement, Office of Price Stabilization, Denver, Colo., 1951-1952; appointed chairman of Public Service Commission, 1959-1960; chairman, Democratic Party of New Mexico, 1961-1964; died in Santa Fe, N.Mex., October 7, 1971; interment in Memorial Lawns Cemetery.

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