Walter Henry Jones (August 18, 1912 – July 19, 1982) was an American Republican Party politician who served as a New Jersey State Senator and was a candidate for
Governor of New Jersey
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official r ...
.
Early life
Jones was born August 18, 1912, in New York City, the son of Walter and Florence Jones. He is a 1934 graduate of
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
and received his law degree from
Rutgers Law School
Rutgers Law School is the law school of Rutgers University, with classrooms in Newark and Camden, New Jersey. It is the largest public law school and the 10th largest law school, overall, in the United States. Each class in the three-year J.D. pr ...
in 1937. He received a Master of Law degree from New York University in 1942. He maintained his own law practice with offices in Hackensack and Newark, and was an assistant professor of law at Rutgers Law School.
Assemblyman
Jones was elected to the
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
in 1942, and served consecutive terms in through 1953. He served as the Assembly Majority Leader in 1945 and as Assembly Speaker in 1946. Governor
Walter Edge
Walter Evans Edge (November 20, 1873October 29, 1956) was an American diplomat and Republican politician who served as the 36th governor of New Jersey, from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1944 to 1947, during both World War I and World War II. Edge ...
appointed him to serve as on the State Administrative Reorganization Commission in 1945.
State senator
Jones was elected to the New Jersey State Senate in 1953 and was re-elected in 1957. Jones led a Senate investigation into garbage collection rackets and battled with New York politicians on their requirement that New Jerseyans who commute to work in New York pay a New York state income tax. Jones also focused on issues related to commuter transit, an issue that affected many of his New York constituents.
Diplomatic Assignment
In 1954, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles appointed him to serve as a member of the Inter-Governmental Committee on European Migration. He held that post through 1955. In 1955, Jones surveyed European casualties in connection with he Refugee Relief Program.
Campaign for Governor
Jones sought the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey in 1961, and at the start of the campaign he was considered the front-runner. He lost a particularly bitter primary contest with former U.S. Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell. Mitchell beat Jones by 41,635 votes, 44%-35%. Jones gave up his Senate seat to run for governor.
Republican Party Chairman
From 1963 to 1966, Jones served as chairman of the Bergen County Republican Organization.
Indictment
A federal grand jury indicted Jones in 1971 on charges that he covered up a $2.4 million bank fraud. He was acquitted of all charges in 1974.
Family
Jones married Alice Ferris Henshaw (1916–2012) on May 5, 1939. He had four children: Walter H. Jones, 3d (Born 1942); Graham Oscar Jones (Born 1944); Susan Henshaw Jones (Born 1947); and Deborah Jones (Born 1952). He lived in
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', July 20, 1982. Accessed June 15, 2015. "Walter H. Jones, a former New Jersey State Senator and Assemblyman, died yesterday at Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood, N.J. He was 69 years old and lived in Norwood, N.J."