Edwin Leard MECHEM, Congress, NM (1912-2002)

MECHEM, Edwin Leard, a Senator from New Mexico; born in Alamogordo, Otero County, N.Mex., July 2, 1912; attended the Alamogordo and Las Cruces, N.Mex., schools; student at New Mexico State University in 1930-1931 and 1935; land surveyor, United States Reclamation Service, Las Cruces, N.Mex., 1932-1935; graduated from the law department of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 1939; admitted to the New Mexico bar in 1939 and practiced in Las Cruces and Albuquerque, N.Mex.; agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation 1942-1945; member, New Mexico house of delegates 1947-1948; Governor of New Mexico 1951-1954, 1957-1958, 1961-1962; member of the Committee on Government Security 1956-1957 and the American Law Institute; appointed on November 30, 1962, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Dennis Chavez and served until November 3, 1964; was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the vacancy in 1964; resumed the practice of law in 1965; member of New Mexico Commission on Reorganization of Executive Branch; member of New Mexico State Police Commission; United States District Judge from 1970 until his death; was a resident of Albuquerque, N.Mex.., until his death on November 27, 2002; interment in Fairview Memorial Park, Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, N. Mex.

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