John Esten Miles (July 28, 1884October 7, 1971) was an American politician who served as the 12th governor of the state of

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

Biography

Miles was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He attended the common schools of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, but left home at the age of seventeen. He settled in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and began farming. he did moderately well in that field, but a crop failure in 1906 convinced him to move to Oklahoma and then to

. He took a homestead there and married Susie C. Wade. Susie Wade was a member of the Choctaw Nation. Miles began to dabble in

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

as an observer at first. When the

United States Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero And ...

began to take back the

New Mexico Legislature The New Mexico Legislature ( es, Legislatura de Nuevo México) is the legislative branch of the state government of New Mexico. It is a bicameral body made up of the New Mexico House of Representatives and the New Mexico Senate. History The N ...

in the 1920s, he started taking an active role in the political spectrum. He served in several offices including Quay County Assessor (1920–1924), secretary of the New Mexico State Tax Commission (1925), and secretary of the Democratic State Central Committee. Miles came virtually out of nowhere to be elected

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 ...

in 1938. This was partially because the

New Mexico Democratic Party The Democratic Party of New Mexico (DPNM) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is headquartered in Albuquerque and led by Chair Jessica Velasquez, Vice Chair Manny Crespin, Secretary Pamelya Herndon, and T ...

was having a dispute at the time between those who supported Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and those who opposed it. Miles, an in between who was not an advocate but also did not work against the New Deal, was seen as a compromise. His term was rather uneventful, especially compared to that of his predecessor. Upon completion of Miles' term as Governor he returned to holding various low-level organizational positions including chairman of the Public Service Commission (1943–1948), and Commissioner of Public Lands (1947–1948). Finally, in 1948, the Democratic Party figured Miles would be an easy shot to take out Georgia Lee Lusk in a primary for her Congressional seat. He just barely edged out Lusk, and only served one term as a Congressman (1949–1951) before retiring from public life. Miles died on October 7, 1971.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, John E. 1884 births 1971 deaths 20th-century American politicians Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Mexico Democratic Party governors of New Mexico Native American state legislators in New Mexico New Mexico Commissioners of Public Lands People from Murfreesboro, Tennessee People from Quay County, New Mexico