Hugh Meade Alcorn Jr. (October 20, 1907 – January 13, 1992) was a

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

lawyer and

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was a native of

Suffield, Connecticut Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, t ...

Biography

He was born on October 20, 1907 to Cora Terry (Wells) and Hugh Meade Alcorn Sr. He attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...

. An attorney, he was a partner in the once-prominent Connecticut law firm Tyler, Cooper & Alcorn. Alcorn was a key figure in Connecticut politics following

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. He served as State Representative, Republican floor leader, and then Speaker of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ea ...

. He also served as Hartford State's Attorney. As the Republican leader in the

Connecticut General Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. ...

, he was often paired against John Bailey, his legendary

Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

counterpart. Alcorn joined the Republican National Committee in 1953, and was the chairman of the Republican National Committee between 1957 and 1959, during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower. He was also the great-great nephew of

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

and

Governor of Mississippi 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 ...

James Lusk Alcorn. He died of a stroke on January 13, 1992.

Personal life

Alcorn was married to Marcia Powell Alcorn after the death of his first wife, Janet. He had only one daughter, named Eileen. His brother Howard Alcorn was chief justice of the

Connecticut Supreme Court The Connecticut Supreme Court, formerly known as the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, is the highest court in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The seven justices sit in Hartford, acr ...

References

External links

Hugh Mead (sic) Alcorn entry
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations ...

*
The Papers of Hugh Meade Alcorn
at Dartmouth College Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcorn, Meade 1907 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American politicians Connecticut lawyers Dartmouth College alumni missing graduation year Republican Party members of the Connecticut House of Representatives People from Suffield, Connecticut Republican National Committee chairs Yale Law School alumni 20th-century American lawyers