"John C. Phillips came to Phoenix in 1898 to establish a law practice, but he could not make a living at his profession so he hired out as a construction laborer. Ironically, his first job (at $1.75 a day) was helping to complete the new State Capitol building, which he was later to occupy as governor.
The second Republican to serve in the governor's chair, he was elected in the Hoover landslide of 1928. In his single term, Governor Phillips pushed construction of state office buildings and public works earned the nickname "Honest John" for his careful handling of public funds.
John Calhoun Phillips was born Nov. 13, 1870, on a farm near Vermont, Ill. He studied law at Hedding College, Ill., and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1896. Lured by the promise of the fast growing Arizona Territory, he came to Phoenix in 1898 and eventually established his law practice. In 1901 he was elected probate judge and served until 1912, when he became the first Maricopa County Superior Court Judge under the new statehood laws. Judge Phillips was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 1918 and to the Arizona Senate in 1924. When he announced his candidacy for governor in 1928, he made only one promise: "Efficiency and economy in office." He kept that promise well.
An avid hunter and fisherman, he worked for Arizona conservation laws and led in the establishment of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Defeated by Gov. G.W.P. Hunt in a close race in 1930, Phillips returned to the practice of law and later formed a partnership, Phillips and Phillips, with his son Ralph. A homely man with a rare sense of humor, he often called himself "the ugliest man in Arizona." He once refused to push for higher salaries for judges, explaining that "if we raise the salary, some really competent lawyer may run and beat me out of a job!" Phillips died June 25, 1943, after suffering a heart attack while fishing at Lake Mary, near Flagstaff. He was mourned by friends throughout the state."
Goff, John F. Arizona
Biographical Dictionary. Black Mountain Press. Cave Creek,
Arizona 1983.
p. 263
Biography of John Calhoun Phillips
CB BIO PHI,JOH
