James B. Longley papers

James B. Longley was born in Lewiston, Maine in 1924 to James Bernard and Catherine (Wade) Longley. His father was a street car conductor. Longley served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II, and graduated form Bowdoin College in 1947. Longley worked in a textile mill to help support his widowed mother while obtaining his education. He received a C.L.U. degree from the American College of Life Underwriters in 1954, and earned a law degree from the University of Maine.

Longley went into the insurance business in Lewiston, first as an agent for New England Life Insurance Company, and then as head of Longley Associates, which became on the largest insurance agencies in Maine. He was also active in law, finance, and banking. He was president of the Million Dollar Round Table and chairman of the Board of Editors of Query, and a member and past president of both the State of Maine Chapter of CLU and the Androscoggin Valley Life Underwriters Association.

Longley first came to public attention in 1973 when he chaired the Maine Management and Cost Survey, which studied the workings of state government and identified areas where money could be saved. Dissatisfied with state government's response to the survey's recommendations, Longley, a lifelong Democrat, decided to run for governor in 1974 as an independent. He pulled one of the biggest surprises of that Watergate year, defeating the Republican and Democratic nominees, including George Mitchell, Edmund S. Muskie's protege. He served one term as governor, from January 2, 1975 to January 3, 1979, carrying out administrative reforms and advocating for economy in government. He fulfilled another campaign promise when he opted not to run for re-election. After public service, Longley served as a guest lecturer on public affairs topics at various institutions of higher learning, including the universities of Wisconsin, Arkansas, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, and Purdue University. Longley passed away August 16, 1980.