the magazine y - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

"Forget your enemies, but remember your
friends!" This was the formula thct enabled
Gteorge Wiley Paul Hunt to be electee for seven
terms as governor of Arizona. Hunt is dead now,
but the magic of his success at the polls has become
a legend of the desert country. Here is a
revealing story of a pioneer who arrived in Arizona
on a burro—and lived to establish a national
record for re-election to the highest oJfice a state
can confer on a citizen.
even lime
Wlnnet In
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By GEORGE W. P. HUNT
as told 1o
OREN ARNOLD
/y N 1932 George Hunt sought the
\/ nomination for his eighth term as
governor of Arizona—and lost.
Shortly after the primary election I
called at his home on McDowell Road
in Phoenix. He had been a seven-time
winner for the highest office in his state
—and I was interested in learning how
he felt about his defeat.
I was greeted by a chuckling fat man
in his shirt sleeves. He invited me in to
his big lounge room, so crowded with
Indian and Siamese relics it resembled a
museum. Hunt had once served as ambassador
to Siam.
He told me about his pet peacocks, and
we discussed the affairs of the world in
general. It wasn't a formal interview. He
just propped his feet on a window sill
and chatted.
The conversation led around to the
affairs of state in Arizona. As far as he
was concerned the recent primary election
was a closed chapter. He offered no alibis
—apparently felt no trace of bitterness
over his retirement.
"You've served more terms as governor
than any other state executive in the
United States," I reminded him. 'What
kind of magic do you use?"
George Hunt died within two years
after that conversation, but his vote-
JULY, 1940
getting power has become legendary, and
since the formula by which he mainta
ned his political strength is no less
applicable today than it was then, and
since it involves some simple truths that
afply to all human relations everywhere, I
am going to repeat the story as he told it.
* * *
Now that I am about to retire, many
persons have asked me to tell the secret
of my success at the polls for all these
years. They seem to think I can now reveal
some tricks that I couldn't tell before.
Well, maybe I can. I had to get out
some day, and since I am 73 and have
mide an all-time record for re-election
as governor, perhaps I am entitled to do
a 'ittle boasting.
Even before Arizona became a state
I enjoyed some success as a campaigner.
I was elected to the Territorial legislature
seven times, first in 1892 just after
I had taken a job as delivery boy for a
mercantile store in Globe. Twice I served
in the Territorial assembly, nominated
or ce over my protests, nominated and
elected again during my absence from
the state. The constitutional convention
w.iich preceded our admittance to the
ur.ion elected me as its president, then I
became first governor of the state of Arizona,
the baby state.
This picture o\ George Hunt was was taken by by Oren Arnold Arno,
in 1932, at the • time of the accompanying accompanyinginterview.
I have been governor ever since except
three terms. For two of them I was
not a candidate, and the third time I got
caught in the Hoover landslide. For
years people have called me a professional
governor, not without some truth. But
the pride I take in it is leavened with
chuckles. Long ago I learned that laughter
and bragadoccio could rest only on
a basis of humility, and I want to emphasize
at this point that I am seriously
conscious of the blessings that have been
bestowed upon me, that I know pride
goeth before a fall, and so I do my
boasting only in a spirit of fun.
The newspaper reporters are constantly
asking for my "secrets." I tell them
that I try to remember my friends and
forget my enemies. And if I must specify
one formula, that's it. Forget your enemies,
and remember your friends.
Dr. Frank Lockwood, dean of the college
of arts and letters at the University
of Arizona, has written that I sometimes
lived up to my motto too faithfully. Some
of my friends I have carried too far, he
says, and some of my enemies ought to
have been crushed. I suspect he is right.
Dr. Lockwood is a great scholar, a keen
observer, and I who have had but little
schooling along many lines am bound to
respect him. I lacked the good judgment
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