Edward J. King
Encyclopedia
Edward Joseph "Ed" King (May 11, 1925 – September 18, 2006) was the 66th Governor
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

 of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 from 1979 to 1983.

Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. It is the smallest city in Massachusetts in land area, and the 26th most densely populated incorporated place in the country.-History:...

, and a graduate of Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

 and Bentley College
Bentley College
Bentley University is a private co-educational university in Waltham, Massachusetts, west of Boston. Founded in 1917 as a school of accounting and finance in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, Bentley moved to Waltham in 1968...

, King played professional football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 as a guard
Guard (American football)
In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....

 with the All-America Football Conference
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference was a professional American football league that challenged the established National Football League from 1946 to 1949. One of the NFL's most formidable challengers, the AAFC attracted many of the nation's best players, and introduced many lasting innovations...

 Buffalo Bisons from 1948 to 1949 and the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

's Baltimore Colts
Baltimore Colts (1947-50)
The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The first team to bear the name Baltimore Colts, they were members of the All-America Football Conference from 1947–1949, and then joined the National Football League for one season before folding...

 in 1950. Prior to winning election as Governor, his only elected office, he served as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority
Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, is a port district in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It operates seaports and airports in eastern and central Massachusetts, mainly the Port of Boston. Its headquarters is located in the Logan Office Center, adjacent to Logan Airport in East Boston,...

 and President of the New England Business Council.

In 1978, King defeated incumbent Governor Michael Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis served as the 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts from 1975–1979 and from 1983–1991, and was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek immigrants in Brookline, Massachusetts, also the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, and was the longest serving...

 in the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 primary, and served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1979 to 1983. He was defeated for re-election in a 1982 rematch with Dukakis.

During his term of office, Governor King froze property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...

es, reduced state spending on social programs, undertook a variety of efforts to encourage increased business and agricultural opportunities in the Commonwealth, and took a tough stand on crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...

 by introducing mandatory minimum sentences and passing legislation to reintroduce the death penalty in Massachusetts, a measure which was later ruled unconstitutional by the state's Supreme Judicial Court
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The SJC has the distinction of being the oldest continuously functioning appellate court in the Western Hemisphere.-History:...

. When advocating capital punishment, President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 called King his "favorite Democratic governor" and King endorsed Reagan in the 1984 Presidential election.

Following his term of office, Governor King joined the public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton. In 1985 King switched his party affiliation to the Republican Party and briefly considered running for governor in 1986 on the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 ticket. Until the time of his death, he maintained residences in both Massachusetts and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

.

His wife Josephine died in 1995. He was survived by two sons, Timothy and Brian; two sisters, Helen Kennedy and Mary King; and five grandchildren. His late brother, Paul, was a judge in the state court system.

Cabinet

The King Cabinet
OFFICE NAME TERM
Governor
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

Edward J. King 1979 1983
Lt. Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
The Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts...

Thomas P. O'Neill III
Thomas P. O'Neill III
Thomas Phillip O'Neill III leads a public relations and government affairs firm called O'Neill and Associates in Boston. He is the son of Tip O'Neill, who served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987.From 1975 to 1983, O'Neill served as lieutenant governor of...

1979 1983
Secretary of Transportation Barry Locke
Barry Locke
Barry Myles Locke was an American political aide who served as Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation from 1979 until he was indicted for corruption in 1981....


James Carlin
1979 1981
1981 1983
Secretary of Communities and Development Byron J. Matthews
Byron J. Matthews
Byron J. Matthews is an American politician who served as Mayor of Newburyport, Massachusetts from 1968 to 1978 and Massachusetts Secretary of Communities and Development from 1979 to 1983....

1979 1983
Secretary of Environmental Affairs John A. Bewick 1979 1983
Secretary of Consumer Affairs Eileen Schell 1979 1983
Secretary of Human Services Charles F. Mahoney
William T. Hogan
1979 1981
1981 1983
Secretary of Elder Affairs Stephen Guptill
Stephen Guptill
Stephen Guptill is a former American journalist and elderly advocate who resigned as Massachusetts Secretary of Elder Affairs after less then one week on the job when it was revealed that he falsely claimed to have had graduated from two foreign colleges....


Thomas H. D. Mahoney
Thomas H. D. Mahoney
Thomas Henry Donald Mahoney was an American professor and politician.-Academia:...

1979 1979
1979 1983
Secretary of Administration and Finance Edward Hanley
David M. Bartley
David M. Bartley
David Michael Bartley is a U.S. politician and educator who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1963–1975, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1969 to 1975, Secretary of Administration and Finance from 1981–1983, and President of Holyoke...

1979 1981
1981 1983
Secretary of Public Safety George Luciano 1979 1983
Secretary of Economic Affairs George Kariotis
George Kariotis
George S. Kariotis is a businessman who was the Republican Party nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1986.Kariotis is the son of Greek immigrants. He graduated from Northeastern University in 1940, and then served in the United States Navy during World War II. In 1962, he founded Alpha...

1979 1983
Secretary of Energy Joseph S. Fitzpatrick
Margaret St. Clair
1979 1981
1981 1983

External links

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