Hunt, George W. P. (George Wylie Paul), 1859-1934

Arizona politician. President of the Arizona Constitutional Convention, 1910; Governor of Arizona, 1912-1919, 1923-1929, and 1931-1933.

Arizona governor and statesman.

George W. P. Hunt was born in Huntsville, Missouri on November 1, 1859, the son of George Washington and Sarah Elizabeth (Yates) Hunt. He received his education in various public and private schools in Missouri and then ran away from home in 1878. He spent time traveling and working in the midwest and Colorado and finally arrived at Globe, Arizona in 1881.

Hunt worked at a number of odd jobs in Globe and served as a delivery boy for K. Bailey and Company, a general store that eventually became the Old Dominion Commercial Company. He became president of the retail outfit in later years. Hunt was elected to the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1893 and served until 1898, when he left politics to pursue business and personal interests.

Hunt married Helen Duett Ellison in 1904 and later that year was elected to the territorial legislature again. He was elected president of the legislative council in 1905 and again in 1909. Hunt was elected president of the Arizona Constitutional Convention in 1910 and was elected the first governor of the state of Arizona in 1912. He served as governor until January of 1917, when he surrendered his office to Thomas E. Campbell after the disputed election of 1916. Hunt was reinstated by the courts in December of 1917 but declined to run in 1918. While he was out of office, Hunt served as a federal labor conciliator at the request of President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1920 President Wilson nominated Hunt as US Minister at Siam, a post he held until September of 1921. Hunt returned to the governor's office in January of 1923 and served until his attempt for re-election was defeated in 1928. He defeated the incumbent Governor John C. Phillips in 1931 and served his final term as governor until 1933. George Hunt died at his home in Phoenix in 1934.