Horace Augustus Hildreth (December 2, 1902 – June 2, 1988) was an American diplomat, businessman and Republican politician. He served as the Governor of Maine for two two-year terms, and served as

United States Ambassador to Pakistan The U.S. embassy in Karachi was established August 15, 1947, with Edward W. Holmes as chargé d'affaires, Chargé d'Affaires ''ad interim'', pending the appointment of an ambassador. The first ambassador, Paul H. Alling, was appointed on September ...

under president

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

. He also founded the company that became

Diversified Communications Diversified Communications (doing business as Diversified) is a multimedia company, headquartered in Portland, Maine. The company provides market access, education and information through global, national and regional face-to-face events, digital ...

. Hildreth was born in

Gardiner, Maine Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Popular with tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and old architecture. Gardiner is a nationally accredit ...

, the son of an attorney. Hildreth attended local schools before graduating from

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794. The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...

in the class of 1925 and receiving his

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1928. In

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

he joined the prestigious law firm of Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge and Rugg before returning to Maine with the desire for a political career. Elected to the

Maine House of Representatives The Maine House of Representatives is the lower house of the Maine Legislature. The House consists of 151 voting members and three nonvoting members. The voting members represent an equal number of districts across the state and are elected via ...

in 1940 and the

Maine Senate The Maine Senate is the upper house of the Maine Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. The Senate currently consists of 35 members representing an equal number of districts across the st ...

in 1942, he served as 109th President of the Maine Senate for the 1943–1944 term. He won the Republican gubernatorial primary in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

and was elected the 59th

governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

by a landslide margin. Reelected in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

by another large margin, he was a supporter of the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

and education for veterans. From 1947 to 1948 he chaired the National Governors Conference and proposed that the retail

sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

be the exclusive province of the federal government as a trade-off for the elimination of federal gas, inheritance and alcohol taxes. In

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

he lost the Republican nomination for

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Margaret Chase Smith Margaret Madeline Chase Smith (née Chase; December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she served as a U.S. representative (1940–1949) and a U.S. senator (1949–1973) from Maine. She was th ...

, thus ending his political career. In 1949 he founded Community Broadcasting Service, a company which in 1953 would establish Maine's first television station,

WABI-TV WABI-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Bangor, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Media, the station has studios on Hildreth Street in West Bangor, and its transmitter is atop Peaked Mountain in D ...

. Community Broadcasting Service later became known as

, a company which is still in existence today and still controlled by the Hildreth family. From the time of his loss of the senatorial nomination until his appointment as Ambassador to Pakistan, Hildreth served as President of

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Williamsport and north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. The population was 5,158 as of the United States Census 202 ...

. From 1953 to 1957, Hildreth served the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration as

United States Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the United States' diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of th ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. His daughter Josephine Hildreth married the son of the

Iskandar Mirza Iskander Ali Mirza (13 November 189913 November 1969) was a Bengali politician, statesman and military general who served as the Dominion of Pakistan's fourth and last governor-general of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956, and then as the Islamic Repub ...

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

. In

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

, he attempted a political comeback and he was the Republican candidate for Governor, but was defeated by Democrat Clinton Clauson. In 1967, he bought a controlling share of a

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

radio station, but withdrew from active participation in its operation in 1974. Hildreth died on June 2, 1988, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. Hildreth's son, Hoddy Hildreth, later became a member of the

and a leading conservationist.

References

, - , - , - , - , - 1902 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Ambassadors of the United States to Pakistan Presidents of Bucknell University Bowdoin College alumni Politicians from Gardiner, Maine Republican Party governors of Maine Harvard Law School alumni Maine lawyers Republican Party members of the Maine House of Representatives Presidents of the Maine Senate Republican Party Maine state senators People associated with Ropes & Gray 20th-century American academics 20th-century members of the Maine Legislature {{Maine-MESenate-stub