Richard Joseph Hughes (10 August 1909-7 December 1992) was the Democratic Governor of New Jersey from 16 January 1962 to 20 January 1970, succeeding Robert B. Meyner and preceding William T. Cahill.
Biography[]
Richard Joseph Hughes was born in Florence Township, Burlington County, New Jersey in 1909. He became a lawyer in Trenton in 1932 and served as a Democratic state committeeman, a federal prosecutor, a common pleas judge from 1948 to 1952, a superior court judge from 1952, and Governor from 1962 to 1970, having distinguished himself as a strong campaigner. Hughes won the support of organized labor and narrowly failed to introduce a state income tax during his second term, and he served as a judge from 1973 to 1979. Afterwards, he practiced law in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and in Boca Raton, Florida, where he died in 1992.