John W. King (1916 - 1996)
Born at Manchester (NH); died at
Lawyer, state legislator/official, jurist.
Portrait by Richard Whitney, n.d..
Presented to the State, date unknown.

Although John King is best known as a three-term governor of New Hampshire (1963/9) and as the originator of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes, his career as a jurist cannot be overlooked. He was a remarkable figure as both a politician and a lawyer.

King attended St. Anselm's College (NH) and Harvard College as an undergraduate. He received his B.A. degree at Harvard (Class of 1938), then returned to St. Anselm's to teach (Government) during the 1938/9 school year. Then King moved to New York City, receiving both his M.A. (1942) and law degree (1944) at Columbia University.

King practiced law in New York City (1944/8), then returned to the Manchester (NH) law firm of King, Nixon, Christy & Tessier. King was elected to the State House of Representatives for three successive two-year terms (1956/60), and he became the head of the state Democratic Party. In 1962 King was elected governor, and he served three successive terms as governor (1962/6). It was while King was governor that he invented the New Hampshire Sweepstakes as a way to finance state government without an income tax or other new taxes having to be enacted.

In 1969 Governor Walter Peterson (a Republican) named King an Associate Justice to New Hampshire Superior Court. King served ten years (1969/79) on this Court; then in 1979 he was named Associate Justice to the New Hampshire Supreme Court (by Republican Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr.). King served as Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court (1979/81); then he was named Chief Justice. He retired in 1986 because of the age restriction.

Reference: New Hampshire Law Weekly, vol. 6 no. 30 (January 23, 1980).