New Hampshire's Indomitable US Senator Styles Bridges
Yours truly with Cong. Chester Merrow, Bridges, Gov. Wesley Powell October, 1960, Belmont, NH
Anyone ever notice the little signs that read “Styles Bridges Highway” posted intermittently along New Hampshire’s I-93 North, beginning from Concord to the Canadian border?
Styles Bridges served one two-year term as New Hampshire governor (1935-1937), and the rest of his life as a US Senator, becoming the most senior Republican in that body, dying in office close to a year to the day after being elected to his fourth term in 1961.
I met him once as a kid when I was maybe eleven. I was with my grandfather during an all-day political event, visiting every town in Belknap county. The fall election was a month away, and we were with a group of candidates for local government seeking votes, headed by the governor, a congressman, and Bridges, all up for re-election. I was the only youngster among them. The first stop was Meredith, and my grandfather, himself up for both re-election as county commissioner and state rep, a friend of Bridges for some 30 years, made sure I shook the Great Man’s hand. Actually it’s a moment I’ve not forgotten.
We traveled in cars from town to town, it was called "The Flying Squadron," which occurred every election year in those days, where a reception of people awaited at each, with of course refreshments and decorations of flags and campaign posters. Candidates gave speeches, told stories, some with jokes, often tailor-made for that particular community. But one thing stuck out, unlike every other speaker, at every stop, Bridges would give the exact same speech, almost in a monotone, word-for-word…memorized. A Daniel Webster he was not.
Styles Bridges was a soft spoken person, never known to raise his voice in public, with a personality that was friendly but not colorful or flamboyant in any way. He spoke in a kind of nasal, Yankee drawl. He was five-seven, eight maybe? That day: gray hair, gray suit, gray over-coat. Pale face, grayish-blue eyes. When speaking, his left eyebrow would occasionally rise a bit. His mouth had a little crooked sideways look. His teeth, I think, were not good, some might have been missing, couldn’t quite tell. So his smile was unnatural, like he was being careful not to part his lips. A man I later worked for who knew Bridges for many years called it, “That grin.”
By any measure, however, Bridges was a significant, powerful member of the senate in his day due to his seniority and committee chairmanships. - DEAN DEXTER