Governor Benjamin B. Moeur

Governor
(Dr.) Benjamin B. Moeur
(1933-1937)

"Arizonans were living on the brink of economic disaster in the fall of 1932. So severe was the Depression panic that voters turned out the venerable Governor Hunt in the Democratic primary and chose Dr. Benjamin B. Moeur, a nonpolitical Tempe physician. Governor Moeur slashed state spending and looked about frantically for new taxing methods to replenish the empty state treasury. The State of Arizona, unable to pay its bills, issued temporary script to pacify its employees and creditors. By 1934, when he ran for re-election, Governor Moeur was about to tell the people that "The patient is now past the danger stage." He had been forced to introduce a state income tax, sales tax, and various luxury taxes to balance the books. But he did it.

Governor Moeur is perhaps best known for his audacity in mobilizing the Arizona National Guard in March 1934 to prevent the construction of Parker Dam, which was to divert Colorado River water to Los Angeles. Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes was furious, but he was forced to halt construction of the dam until Arizona's water claims were adjudicated.

Born December 22, 1869, at Decherd Tennessee, Moeur was the son of a physician who moved his family to Texas in 1873 and entered the cattle business. Young Ben punched cattle until he was 18, and then entered the University of Arkansas, where he earned his medical degree in 1896. Dr. Moeur followed a brother to the Arizona Territory a few months later and settled in Tempe, where he practiced medicine until he entered politics in 1932. Although he was a gruff, cigar chewing, profane man, he had a heart of gold. He often rode horseback through the night to attend a patient; he delivered most of Tempe's babies for 36 years. His generosity became legend. "I never billed a widow or a preacher," he once declared. And he refused to charge a soldier's family during World War I. Dr. Moeur served as Secretary of the Board of Education for Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe for many years; and gave free medical services to countless students. The strain of leading Arizona through one of its most trying eras took a heavy toll on Gov. Moeur's health. Only 71 days after he left office in 1937, he died at his Tempe home, aged 67."

Goff, John F. Arizona Biographical Dictionary. Black Mountain Press. Cave Creek, Arizona 1983.
p. 264

Website

Tempe Historical Museum Profile-Benjamin B. Moeur
http://www.tempe.gov/museum/ind0004.htm

Tempe Historical Museum-Benjamin B. Moeur House
http://www.tempe.gov/museum/hps148.htm