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History and Government—Congressional Biographies—New Mexico CHAVEZ, Dennis(1888—1962)Senate Years of Service: 1935-1962Party: Democrat 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. Crouch, Barry A. “Dennis Chavez and Roosevelt’s ‘Court-Packing’ Plan.” New Mexico Historical Review 42 (October 1967): 261-80. Lowitt, Richard. “Two-Star General, Three-Time Loser: Patrick Hurley Seeks a Senate Seat in New Mexico.” In Politics in the Postwar American West, edited by Richard Lowitt, pp. 162-73. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995. Lujan, Joe Roy. “Dennis Chavez and the Roosevelt Era, 1933-1945.” Ph.D. dissertation, University of New Mexico, 1987. ___. “Dennis Chavez and the National Agenda: 1933-1946.” New Mexico Historical Review 74 (January 1999): 55-74. Pickens, William H. “Bronson Cutting vs. Dennis Chavez: Battle of the Patrones in New Mexico, 1934.” New Mexico Historical Review 46 (January 1971): 5-36. ___. “Cutting vs. Chavez: A Reply to Wolf’s Comments.” New Mexico Historical Review 47 (October 1972): 337-59. Seligmann, G. L., Jr. “The Purge That Failed: The 1934 Senatorial Election in New Mexico: Yet Another View.” New Mexico Historical Review 47 (October 1972): 361-81. U.S. Congress. Memorial Services Held in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Together with Remarks Presented in Eulogy of Dennis Chavez, Late a Senator from New Mexico . 87th Cong., 2d sess., 1962. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1963. Vigil, Maurilio, and Roy Lujan. “Parallels in the Career of Two Hispanic U.S. Senators.” Journal of Ethnic Studies 13 (Winter 1986): 1-20. Wolf, T. Phillip. “Cutting vs. Chavez Re-Examined: A Commentary on Pickens’ Analysis.” New Mexico Historical Review 47 (October 1972): 317-36. Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present |
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