Voting Station

Dennis Chavez

Please vote to return to collections.

U.S. Senator

The Resume

    (April 8, 1888-November 18, 1962)
    Born in Los Chaves, Mexico
    Birth Name is Dionisio Chavez
    Represented New Mexico in the US House of Representatives from 1931 to 1935
    Represented New Mexico in the US Senate from 1935 to 1962

Why he might be annoying:

    He lost his 1935 Senate election to Republican Bronson M. Cutting.
    He had accused Cutting of resorting to voter fraud to win the election.
    Cutting died in a plane crash five days later, resulting in Chavez getting the job anyway (appointed to fill the vacancy pending a special election).
    At his Senate induction ceremony, six Senators left the chamber in protest (likely for partisan reasons, but historians have since predictably drawn the race card).
    He called himself 'American before Plymouth Rock.'
    People frequently make the mistake of believing that he was father to Cesar Chavez.
    Of the social status of Mexican-Americans, he said 'if they go to war, they're Americans; if they run for office, they're Spanish American; if they look for a job, they're damned Mexicans.'
    His daughter wrote a weekly dating column.
    He has been credited with transforming New Mexico into a liberal Democrat stronghold.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He became the first Hispanic-American to be elected to a full Senate term in 1940.
    His death was honored by a moment of silence at the Capitol.
    He got his start in politics by acting as a Spanish translator for Sen. Andreius Jones.
    President Johnson flew to Albuquerque to deliver his eulogy.
    He was a strong advocate of New Deal programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the National Youth Administration (NYA).
    He is one of only two historical figures to represent New Mexico with a statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol.
    He was a personal emissary to FDR, working closely with his administration to develop the Pan-American highway and the Good Neighbor Policy.
    He was an early outspoken critic of Joseph McCarthyand the anti-communist hearings.
    He co-sponsored the Fair Employment Practices Bill in 1944, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity, twenty years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 21 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 20 Votes: 50.0% Annoying