Richard Hughes Archives - New Jersey Globe

Labor Leader: Vincent J. Murphy was NJ AFL-CIO president, two-term Mayor of Newark

September 1, 2025 12:14 amAugust 31, 2025 11:18 pm

One of the most influential labor leaders in New Jersey’s history was Vincent J. Murphy (1893-1976), who spent nine years as the president of the New Jersey AFL-CIO after serving two terms as Mayor of Newark. He was the Democratic...

Labor Leader: John J. Giblin served as State Senator, Essex County Freeholder

September 1, 2025 12:06 amAugust 31, 2025 4:36 pm

John J. Giblin (1909-1975) was one of New Jersey’s most powerful labor leaders, serving as president of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68, chairman of the national union, Essex County Freeholder and State Senator. Giblin was the patriarch...

Labor Leader: James Mitchell, U.S. Secretary of Labor and N.J. gubernatorial candidate

September 1, 2025 12:03 amAugust 31, 2025 4:01 pm

James P. Mitchell (1900-1964) was a New Jersey construction company executive who served as Dwight Eisenhower’s Secretary of Labor and then nearly won a race for Governor of New Jersey. Mitchell grew up in Elizabeth and worked in the administration...

The Arthur Sills Story

July 21, 2025 10:26 am

Here’s a primer on gravitas-filled Arthur J. Sills, the respected founder of Sills Cummis & Gross and, for a time, one of New Jersey’s most powerful political insiders. After Harvard Law School, Sills went to work for David Wilentz, the boss of the...

Key moment for Nixon was when 18 New Jersey Republicans bolted from Case

February 17, 2025 12:25 amFebruary 17, 2025 9:08 pm

For some time, presidential primaries in New Jersey were nothing more than beauty contests where the preferred candidate of a voter was deemed so unimportant that their name did not appear on the ballot. Instead, voters had to write in...

New Jersey governors and presidential primaries

February 17, 2025 12:00 amFebruary 16, 2025 3:31 pm

In 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy was the first governor to stay out of the presidential race in 28 years, leaving Democratic county chairs — and in some cases, Democratic County Committee members — to award the organization line in the...

Trailblazer: Senator Hutchins Inge

January 20, 2025 12:20 amJanuary 19, 2025 9:18 pm

Hutchins Inge (1900-2002) was the first Black to serve in the New Jersey State Senate. A Newark physician, Inge was elected to the Senate in 1965, unseated Republican Senate Minority Leader C. Robert Sarcone by 7,144 votes. The opportunity for...