"44th NJ Governor" Robert B. Meyner Signed Envelope JG Autographs COA

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Up for auction the
"44th NJ Governor" Robert B. Meyner Hand Signed Envelope Dated 1959 & 1960.
This item is certified authentic by
JG
Autographs
and comes with their Letter of Authenticity.
ES-6027
Robert
Baumle Meyner
(July 3, 1908 –
May 27, 1990) was an American Democratic Party politician,
who served as the 44th Governor of New Jersey,
from 1954 to 1962. Before being elected governor, Meyner represented Warren County in
the New Jersey Senate from
1948 to 1951. Meyner was born on July 3, 1908 in Easton, Pennsylvania, to
Gustave Herman Meyner, Sr. (1878–1950) and Maria Sophia Bäumle (1881–1968). His
father was a German American silk
worker from Manchester, New Hampshire.
His mother was German, but born in Birsfelden near Basel,
in Switzerland, to Robert Bäumle from Harpolingen, Baden and to Franziska Oliva
Thüring from Istein, Baden. Robert had an older brother, Gustave Herman Meyner
Jr. (1907–1996). He also had a younger sister, Olive F. Meyner Wagner
(1913–1982). In
1916, the Meyner family moved across the state border to Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
They briefly settled in Paterson, New Jersey but
had returned to Phillipsburg by 1922. Meyner graduated from Phillipsburg
High School in 1926, and entered Lafayette College, where he majored in government and law. He
was a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity.
In 1928, Meyner formed a club supporting Al Smith as a presidential candidate in the 1928 United
States presidential election. Smith was the nominee of the Democratic
Party but lost the election to Herbert Hoover of the Republican
Party. In his senior year, Meyner was editor in chief of "The Lafayette", a student newspaper. After his graduation, he moved on to Columbia Law School, where he was awarded an LL.B. degree in 1933. While
still in school, Meyner had been employed as an apprentice coremaker by the Warren Foundry and Pipe Corporation
and Ingersoll Rand. During his
college years, Meyner was employed as a weaver by the Gunning Silk Company.
Following his graduation from Columbia, Meyner found employment as a law clerk
in Union City. He was
employed by J. Emil Walscheid and Milton Rosenkranz from February, 1933 to
April, 1936. Meyner returned to Phillipsburg in 1936, where he quickly became a
well-known trial lawyer. His prominent involvement in civic and social affairs,
as well as the recognition it generated, helped him in 1941 during his first
bid for elected office. He lost a campaign for a seat in the New Jersey Senate
by only fifty votes. During World War II, Meyner served as an officer in
the Navy, and he was
discharged with the rank of lieutenant commander.
After a failed run for federal office, he was elected to the state senate in
1947. Though he was the Senate Minority Leader in
1950, Meyner lost his seat in the election of 1952. he ailing New Jersey Democratic Party chose
him as its gubernatorial candidate in 1953, and he achieved a surprise victory,
boosted by a minor scandal surrounding his opponent, Paul L. Troast. Meyner's first term was marked by strong
support for state education and a general restructuring of the government. While
in his first term as governor, Meyner uncovered Employment Security Division
Director (and former governor) Harold G. Hoffman's massive corruption scam, and suspended
Hoffman on March 18, 1954. Meyner defeated Malcolm Forbes handily in 1957 in his bid for
re-election. In 1958, Time Magazine recognized Meyner as a potential
candidate for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination, and featured him on
the cover of their November 24 edition of that year (along with five other
noteworthy Democrats, including John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson). At the 1960
Democratic National Convention Meyner received 43 votes for
president, finishing fifth behind John F. Kennedy (806 votes), Lyndon Johnson
(409 votes), Stuart Symington (86
votes) and Adlai Stevenson (79.5
votes) and just ahead of Hubert Humphrey who received 41 votes. Meyner left office
in January 1962. At the time, New Jersey's constitution prohibited
governors from serving more than two consecutive terms, but did not place a
limit on the total number of terms. After his Democratic successor, Richard J. Hughes had served two terms and was unable to
run for a third, the Democratic Party turned back to Meyner as their
gubernatorial candidate in 1969. But after 16 years of Democratic
administrations, Republican William T. Cahill won election over Meyner.