Robert A. Hurley

Robert Augustine Hurley (August 25, 1895 - May 3, 1968) was an American politician and the 73rd Governor of Connecticut.

Biography

Hurley, a second generation Irish-American, was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on August 25, 1895 to Robert Emmet and Sabina O'Hara Hurley. He attended local public schools and Cheshire Academy. He studied at Lehigh University where he worked his way through school as a hod carrier in support of bricklayers.^[1] An accomplished athlete, he was a four-letter man and, as captain of the baseball team, once pitched a no-hit game. His nickname at Lehigh was "Scraps".

Career

In 1917, at the advent of America's involvement in World War I, Hurley enlisted in the U.S. Navy and became a radio electrician for the submarine fleet (the "pig boats") and on the battleship Pennsylvania. After the war, he played professional football and semiprofessional baseball before joining his father's construction firm. On January 22, 1925, he married Evelyn Hedberg, a nurse from Bridgeport. They had three children, Joan, Sally and Robert E. Hurley.^[2]

Hurley then founded his own successful construction and engineering firm of Leverty & Hurley in Bridgeport. Wilbur Lucius Cross, Governor of Connecticut at the time, appointed Hurley to the directorship of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). He had distinguished himself as the federal coordinator during the devastating Hartford flood of 1936. Hurley then went on to become Connecticut's first Public Works Commissioner, where he ferreted out corruption in the state Highway Department and successfully supervised a multimillion-dollar public construction program. He held this post from 1937 to 1940, developing a statewide reputation for honesty and integrity. Though never having run for public office, he was drafted by New Deal Democrats to run against popular Republican Governor Raymond E. Baldwin. At a tumultuous Democrat convention at the Taft Hotel in New Haven, Hurley defeated the Old Guard, who had convinced former Governor Cross to enter the race, and won the nomination for governor.^[3]

Governor of Connecticut

Hurley, was elected the

After completing his term, Hurley was active in the Democrat National Committee and was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be a member of the Surplus Property Board from 1944 to 1945. He then retired from public life.

Death and legacy

Hurley died on May 3, 1968, aged 72 years, 252 days. He is interred at Fairview Cemetery, West Hartford, Connecticut.^[5] Hurley Hall at the University of Connecticut and at Cheshire Academy are named for him.^[6]

References

Further reading

• Sobel, Robert and John Raimo. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978. Greenwood Press, 1988. ISBN 0-313-28093-2
• Hartford Courant, Connecticut Goes To War, December 7, 1991
• Obituary, The New Haven Register, May 5, 1968
• Obituary, The New York Times, May 5, 1968

External links

• NNDB Soylent Communication
• The Political Graveyard
• National Governors Association
• Find A Grave
• Connecticut State Library

Governors of Connecticut Trumbull, Sr. M. Griswold Huntington Wolcott, Sr. Trumbull, Jr. Treadwall R. Griswold Smith Wolcott, Jr. Tomlinson Peters Edwards Foot Edwards Ellsworth Cleveland R. S. Baldwin Toucey Bissell J. Trumbull Seymour Pond Dutton Minor Holley Buckingham Hawley English Jewell English Jewell Ingersoll Hubbard Andrews Bigelow Waller Harrison P. Lounsbury Bulkeley Morris Coffin Cooke G. Lounsbury McLean Chamberlain Roberts Woodruff Lilley Weeks S. Baldwin Holcomb Lake Templeton Bingham J. H. Trumbull Cross R. E. Baldwin Hurley R. E. Baldwin Snow McConaughy Shannon Bowles Lodge Ribicoff Dempsey Meskill Grasso O'Neill Weicker Rowland Rell Malloy