John David Merwin (September 26, 192117 March 2013Obituary notice
) was a former politician of the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

who served in that territory's

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

, as government secretary (equivalent to

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

), and as the first native-born

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. He was perhaps the first "politician" to be made governor as previous appointees were primarily men of the military, industry, or non-elected government servants. Merwin was born in

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

. In the 1950s, he became a member of the legislature, during which time he voted for a 10-year exemption on all taxes for businesses with $10,000 of capitalization ($100,000 for hotels and housing industries) and a 75% reduction in income taxes for those industries. He was an avid campaigner for a USVI representative in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

. On December 23, 1957, he was made government secretary. The following year, President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

nominated him for governor on August 4, Congress approved and he was sworn in on September 25. As governor, he worked to build a second airport on St. Thomas, but that plan was scrapped by his successor. He also worked to boost tourism by attending tourism conventions and even opened a Department of Tourism office in New York City.

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1921 births Governors of the United States Virgin Islands 2013 deaths Republican Party of the Virgin Islands politicians Senators of the Legislature of the United States Virgin Islands Yale College alumni {{USVirginIslands-politician-stub