Harold G. Hoffman
Harold Giles Hoffman (February 7, 1896–June 4, 1954) was an American politician who was the Republican Governor of New Jersey from 1935 to 1938.
Harold Hoffman was born in South Amboy, New Jersey, attended public schools and graduated from South Amboy High School in 1913. He worked with a local newspaper until enlisting on July 25, 1917 as a private in the Third Regiment of the New Jersey Infantry, where he was subsequently promoted to the rank of captain.
After World War I, Hoffman returned to South Amboy and became an executive with the South Amboy Trust Company (Hoffman would later became the bank's president, a position he would hold until 1942).
Political Career
- 1917 to 1919, military service
- 1920 to 1925, city treasurer of South Amboy
- 1923 to 1924, state assemblyman
- 1925 to 1926, mayor of South Amboy
- 1927 to 1931, member of the U.S. House of Representatives
- 1931 to 1935, state motor vehicle commissioner
- 1935 to 1938, Governor of New Jersey
- 1938 to 1942, director of the state Unemployment Compensation Commission
- 1942 to 1946, military service
- 1946 to 1954, director of the state Unemployment Compensation Commission
Due to World War II, Hoffman was granted military leave as director of the Unemployment Commission on June 15, 1942. He reentered the army as a major in the Transportation Corps and served until June 24, 1946 when he was discharged with the rank of colonel. Upon discharge, Hoffman resumed his position as director of the Unemployment Commission.
As governor, Hoffman secretly visited convicted Lindbergh kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann in his death row cell on the evening of October 16, 1935 with Anna Bading, a stenographer and fluent speaker of German. Hoffman urged the other members of the New Jersey Court of Errors and Appeals (eliminated by the 1947 state constitution) to visit Hauptmann.
Despite Governor Hoffman's doubt regarding Hauptmann's guilt, Hoffman was unable to convince the other members of the Court of Errors to re-examine the case, and Hauptmann was executed on April 3, 1936.
As Governor, Harold Hoffman got into at least two separate fist-fights with reporters. Hoffman's advocacy of a state sales tax cost him the support of his own party, and he was not renominated for a second term as Governor.
On March 18, 1954 Governor Meyner uncovered Hoffman's massive corruption scam, and suspended Hoffman as Employment Security Division Director. Before dying in New York City in June of that year, Hoffman made a written confession of embezzling over $300,000.
Hoffman is buried in Christ Church Cemetery in South Amboy, New Jersey.
