John Noel Dempsey (January
3, 1915 – July 16, 1989), was an American politician who was the 81st Governor of
Connecticut. He was a Democrat, and began
his political career at the age of 21 serving on the Putnam City Council. He
later served as mayor of Putnam, before being elected to Governor of
Connecticut. Dempsey was born in Cahir, County Tipperary, Ireland. He was the only son of a career
British Army officer. In 1925, the family moved to Putnam, Connecticut, in
the northeastern corner of the state. He worked there in the textile industry
and then in the Town Hall, which made the start for his rise in state politics.
While living in Putnam, Dempsey was the Soccer Coach at the Pomfret School in Pomfret. He was married to Mary Frey
and they had three sons and a daughter. In 1936, at the age of 21, Dempsey was
elected to the Putnam City Council, and in 1948, he began the first of six
terms as mayor. He was elected to the Connecticut
House of Representatives in 1949, but managed to divide his
time between state and local affairs. He served in the General Assembly until
1955, when he became executive secretary of governor Abraham A. Ribicoff. Dempsey
was the 74th
Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut during Ribicoff's last term as governor, from
1959 – 1961. When Ribicoff resigned as Governor of Connecticut to
become a member of President John F. Kennedy's Cabinet, Dempsey succeeded him, becoming the
first person to hold this position since the early colonial period who had been
born in Europe. He also began a 30-year period in which the former Puritan
colony had only Catholic governors in office.[1] In 1969, leaders of both parties
introduced the Legislative Management Act to establish support staff and
control the operating budget of the Assembly. Both houses voted unanimously to
override his veto. He was an ally of party chairman John M. Bailey. He chose not to run for re-election in 1970
and was succeeded by Republican Thomas J. Meskill. During his tenure, he served on the
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, the National Governors
Association Executive Committee from 1968 to 1969; also chaired
the New England Governors Association from 1963 to 1965 and
the Democratic Governors
Association from 1969 to 1970.[2] After leaving office, Dempsey
became the President of the Indian Trails Council of
the Boy Scouts of America