Clyde Tingleys Little New Deal For New Mexico 1935 1938

Governor Clyde Tingley, "City Boss" of Albuquerque, created a powerful Democratic Machine in New Mexico, one that replaced Republican dominance in northern New Mexico. And to seal the process, during his term as governor (1935-1938), he made well over a dozen visits to Washington and kept a steady correspondence with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. With the goal in mind to construct a New Deal for New Mexico, one that only a handful of other states could match, Clyde Tingley entered the capitol ready to reorganize state government. In his first steps, he created the first Bureau of State Revenue with a mandate that the Finance Board audit all state executive departments. Moving forward with his key goal to modernize the state, he initiated WPA, CCC, and PWA projects to provide relief, economic and cultural development within the state. He wanted tourists to come to New Mexico, so he dressed up the state with large-scale highway construction and put the Highway Department in charge of New Mexico Magazine to showcase the glamour and color of the state. In addition, Governor Tingley presided over changes to reform, education, welfare, health and labor relations. Although Tingley's administration succeeded, he failed to block a rival, the smart and ambitious Senator Dennis Chavez, whom he had named to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate. Ultimately, the question became who would achieve permanent control of the Democratic Machine, Tingley or Chavez? While Governor Clyde Tingley brought New Mexico into the twentieth century, his wife, Carrie Wooster Tingley, enjoyed great popularity for her sincerity and the sympathetic hand she lent to those with less. It was her idea for the state to build a hospital for crippled children, which was named after her. Carrie and Clyde were a colorful pair-he for his photos with movie stars and celebrities, his dress-ups in cowboy hats and boots, and she for her colorful hats, often in lavender, her favorite color, and her once a week attendance at the movies. But being governor could not last forever. He returned to Albuquerque to be elected mayor once again, and as before, he and Carrie drove around Albuquerque each night to see that all was fine and to put the City to bed. LUCINDA LUCERO SACHS is the author of two award-winning short stories and a novel, "Believe in the Wind," a story of hope and redemption set across the backdrop of New Mexico in the Great Depression also published by Sunstone Press. Holt, Winston & Reinhart selected her as a Review Editor for the 2000 "The American Nation" and "The American Nation: Civil War to the Present." She has an M.A. in history and also did some doctoral work in history at UCLA. Lucinda is a native of Alameda, New Mexico and the daughter of Erminda L. Sachs and the late Ben Sachs. She is married to Lewis E. Real.