Meldrim Thomson Jr

MELDRIM THOMSON JR. was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 8, 1912. He attended the University of Miami, Washington and Jefferson College, Mercer University and the University of Georgia, receiving a LL.B. from the latter. Thomson started a legal textbook publishing firm on Long Island, New York. In search of quiet, he moved his family of six children to Orford, where he founded Equity Publishing Corp. As governor from 1973-1979, serving three two-year terms, he drew devoted support from ultraconservatives with positions that included suggesting nuclear weapons for the state National Guard. He once called Martin Luther King "a man of immoral character whose frequent association with leading agents of communism is well-established." But he also drew votes for his strong antitax stance -- to this day, the state has neither an income tax nor a sales tax -- and for his philosophy of independence from federal influence. Thomson is a former member and chairman of both the Stony Brook, Long Island; and Orford, New Hampshire, school boards. He was a member of the New Hampshire constitutional convention in 1964. Thomson also co-founded Taxfighters, Incorporated, and the Public School Association. Thomson has taught political science at the University of Georgia. Governor Thomson passed away from Parkinson's disease and heart problems on April 19, 2001.