CPL David Francis Cargo

Born: 13 January 1929; Dowagiac, Michigan
Died: 5 July 2013; Albuquerque, New Mexico

CPL David Francis Cargo was born in Dowagiac, Michigan. He earned a B.A. in Literature and a master’s in public administration from the University of Michigan before enlisting in the U.S. Army. He served from 1953-1955. Cargo completed basic training at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. While he originally had been slated to serve as part of an infantry replacement unit to be deployed in Korea, two officers in Cargo’s unit died during basic training. Cargo later recalled that these deaths led him to serve as “a supply coordinator, communications coordinator, and program coordinator despite the fact that I had not graduated from basic training.” His service in these roles led to his reassignment to Stuttgart, Germany upon completion of basic training, where he remained for the rest of his period of enlistment. In addition to his regular duties, Cargo avidly followed politics of various Western European nations, particularly German and Ireland. He also met future Irish President Eamon de Valera while in Europe. Cargo’s interest in European politics foreshadowed his subsequent passion for public service when he returned to the United States.[i]

Cargo completed his law degree at the University of Michigan in 1957 and moved to New Mexico. He served three consecutive terms in the New Mexico House of Representatives beginning in 1962. While campaigning for governor in one rural area in New Mexico in 1966 he earned the nickname of “Lonesome Dave” for his dedication to campaigning in isolated, rural parts of the state. In winning this election, Cargo, then age 37, became and remains the youngest person to be elected governor in New Mexico history.

 Over the course of two two-year terms, Cargo created the nation’s first state-supported film commission, prioritized funding for public libraries, protected public lands that would later be designated as state parks, and established a Human Rights Commission for the state. During his second term as governor, Cargo mobilized elements of the New Mexico National Guard in response to widespread student demonstrations at the University of New Mexico following the shooting of students at Kent State University protesting the ongoing U.S. intervention in Vietnam. On May 8, 1970, National Guardsmen bayoneted 11 students, teachers, and journalists, including KOB journalist Bill Norlander, while enforcing an order for protestors to vacate the Student Union Building.[ii] Norlander later recalled that “I was thinking I’ll just stand there and let these guys go by and I’ll film them walking past me, only I didn’t realize they saw me as part of the problem.” Though both Cargo and UNM President Ferrel Heady were cleared in a subsequent lawsuit, each subsequently maintained that the other insisted on utilizing the National Guard in response to these events.[iii]

 Term limits prevented Cargo from running for re-election a third term. Over the next few decades, he ran unsuccessfully for various state and federal offices in Oregon and New Mexico, returning to New Mexico in 1985. Cargo continued to practice law during this period as well. He died of complications relating to a stroke on July 5, 2013.

Images & Documents

Notes:

[i] David F. Cargo, Lonesome Dave: The Story of New Mexico Governor David Francis Cargo (Santa Fe: Sunstone Press, 2010), 47-50.

[ii] Christopher Beaudet, “Eleven Bayonetted and 131 Arrested at Student Union Building,” 2021. https://timeline.unm.edu/item/eleven-bayonetted-and-131-arrested-at-student-union-building.html, accessed July 10, 2023.

[iii] Rick Nathanson, “Bayoneting victims recall 50^th anniversary of UNM bloodshed,” The Washington Times, May 16, 2020. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/16/bayoneting-victims-recall-50th-anniversary-of-unm-/, accessed July 9, 2023; Milan Simonich, “Bayonets, blood and tears stained UNM in 1970.” The Santa Fe New Mexican, April 30, 2020. https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/bayonets-blood-and-tears-stained-unm-in-1970/article_70f29946-889d-11ea-b2a6-a72b427696f0.html, accessed July 10, 2023.

Prepared by Dr. Andy Hernández, Western New Mexico University