39 Facts About Evan Mecham

Evan Mecham was an American businessman and the 17th governor of Arizona, serving from January 5,1987, until his impeachment conviction on April 4,1988.

Evan Mecham was the first and only Arizona governor to be impeached, as well as one of only 15 US governors to be impeached.

Evan Mecham served one term as a state senator before beginning a string of unsuccessful runs for public office.

Evan Mecham was born to parents who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mountain Home, Utah, and raised on his family's farm.

Evan Mecham left college and joined the US Army Air Corps in January 1943.

Evan Mecham was trained as a P-38 Lightning fighter pilot before being transferred to England, where he flew P-51 Mustangs.

Evan Mecham was shot down on March 7,1945, while flying escort on a photo reconnaissance mission and was held as a prisoner of war for 22 days.

Evan Mecham returned to the United States after recovering from injuries sustained in the lead-up to his capture, and received an Air Medal and Purple Heart for his service.

Evan Mecham married Florence Lambert in May 1945 and was discharged in December of the same year.

Evan Mecham was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Evan Mecham taught Sunday school and served as a bishop in the LDS church from 1957 to 1961.

Evan Mecham enrolled at Arizona State College in 1947 and majored in management and economics.

Evan Mecham relocated to Glendale in 1954 where he acquired and operated a Pontiac dealership until he sold it in March 1988.

Evan Mecham first sought elected office in 1952, while still living in Ajo, with an unsuccessful run for the Arizona House of Representatives.

Evan Mecham was defeated in the general election but still polled 45 percent of the vote.

Evan Mecham developed a political doctrine supporting Jeffersonian democracy and advocating elimination of income taxes, return of federal lands to state control, removing federal involvement in education, and putting welfare under state control.

In 1982, Evan Mecham wrote his first book, Come Back America, in which he discusses his earlier life and political views.

Evan Mecham gained national attention several days after his inauguration by fulfilling a campaign promise to cancel a paid Martin Luther King, Jr.

The rap group Public Enemy released a song in regard to the cancellation of the MLK holiday titled "By the Time I Get to Arizona"; in the video for the song, the group was seen assassinating Evan Mecham by planting a bomb underneath his limousine and detonating it by remote control.

The rock band U2, which performed a concert at Arizona State University in Tempe in early April 1987, joined in with the chorus of condemnation of Evan Mecham, publicly announcing that they had donated money to the impeachment campaign, and having him denounced from the stage by a spokesman to their audience and the attending press, television, and radio outlets.

Evan Mecham lost further support by vetoing bills sponsored by key legislators, such as Senate Majority Leader Bob Usdane.

House Majority Leader Jim Ratliff, who had previously been a Evan Mecham supporter, was a veto victim as well.

Besides the uproar caused by the MLK Day cancellation, claims of prejudice were made against Evan Mecham after he defended the use of the racist word "pickaninny" to describe black children, claimed that high divorce rates were caused by working women, claimed America is a Christian nation to a Jewish audience, and said a group of visiting Japanese businessmen got "round eyes" after being told of the number of golf courses in Arizona.

Evan Mecham made an issue of his relationship with the press.

Evan Mecham left the conference after other reporters repeated Kolbe's questions.

Evan Mecham often said the wrong thing, but he never lied.

Public perception of Evan Mecham slowed down economic development outside the tourism industry.

On October 21,1987, the Arizona Republic ran a story claiming that Evan Mecham had failed to report a $350,000 loan from local real-estate developer Barry Wolfson to Evan Mecham's election campaign as required by campaign financing laws.

When Evan Mecham was informed of the threat, it was reported that he instructed the head of the Arizona Department of Public Safety not to provide information on the incident to the attorney general.

Evan Mecham's supporters compared the impeachment trial to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Arguably, the testimony most damaging to Evan Mecham was his own, during which he repeated his assertion that the legislature had no authority over him, and berated individual legislators.

The Senate then voted 17 to 12 to disqualify Evan Mecham from holding state office again, but that was short of the two-thirds majority required for passage.

Evan Mecham served as an at-large delegate to the 1988 Republican National Convention at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, in August 1988.

In 1995, Evan Mecham became chairman of the Constitutionalist Networking Center, a group attempting to create a grassroots organization called the Constitutionally Unified Republic for Everybody.

Evan Mecham spent several years attempting to start a new newspaper, but was unable to secure sufficient financial backing.

Evan Mecham died on February 21,2008, in Glendale, Arizona, four years after the diagnosis, and is interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix.

Evan Mecham had a genuine interest in helping the disadvantaged.

Evan Mecham understood economic development far better than his predecessor, Bruce Babbitt, or his successor, Rose Mofford.

Evan Mecham believed in economic equality for all races and minorities, arguing this would be necessary before political and social equality could be achieved.