Pesquera, José Lorenzo, 1882-1950

PESQUERA, José Lorenzo, a Resident Commissioner from Puerto Rico; born in Bayamon, P.R., August 10, 1882; was graduated from Provincial Institute of Puerto Rico in 1897; attended the Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa., in 1901 and 1902; was graduated from the law department of West Virginia University at Morgantown in 1904; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Puerto Rico; also engaged in agricultural pursuits and dairying; member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives 1917-1920; director and president of the Agricultural Association of Puerto Rico; appointed a Resident Commissioner by the Governor of Puerto Rico as a Nonpartisan to the Seventy-Second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Resident Commissioner Felix Cordova Davila (April 15, 1932-March 3, 1933); was not a candidate for election in 1932; returned to his law practice and agricultural interests; died in Bayamon, P.R., July 25, 1950; interment in Municipal Cemetery.

<p>One of the few Members to be appointed to the U.S. House of Representatives, rather than elected, José Pesquera served nearly a year as a nominally nonpartisan Resident Commissioner during a period of political and economic upheaval in Puerto Rico and the United States. Trained as a lawyer, Pesquera was passionate about farming, and he spent his short congressional career attempting to bolster Puerto Rican agricultural and economic interests in the midst of the Great Depression. “I must give special recognition to the good farmers … who, regardless of their political affiliations were the driving force behind the idea of my candidacy,” Pesquera declared upon his nomination. “I will make every effort to be capable of being worthy of the honor conferred on me and of the trust that everyone has placed in me.”</p>

<p>José Lorenzo Pesquera was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, just southwest of San Juan, on August 10, 1882, to José J. Pesquera and Inés Dávila. He attended a primary and secondary school run by his maternal uncle and graduated from the Provincial Institute of Puerto Rico with a degree in secondary education in 1897. He subsequently studied English at Keystone State Normal School, in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, from 1901 to 1902. In 1904 he earned his law degree from West Virginia University in Morgantown and was admitted to the state’s bar. Shortly afterward, Pesquera returned to Puerto Rico, where he was admitted to the territory’s bar and opened a law practice. He also engaged in dairy farming. On December 25, 1908, he married Encarnación López del Valle from Toa Alta. In 1917 Pesquera won election as a Partido Republicano (Puerto Rican Republican) to the territorial house of representatives, where he served until 1920. The Partido Republicano was generally aligned with small-business interests on the island and sympathized with, but had no official ties to, the mainland GOP. In 1927 Pesquera was appointed director of the Agricultural Association of Puerto Rico, a powerful advocacy group for the territory’s landowning farmers. Throughout his tenure, he served on several economic commissions to the United States, and he was frequently in contact with Members of the U.S. Congress.</p>

<p>On April 11, 1932, Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Félix Córdova Dávila resigned to become an associate justice on the territory’s supreme court. His departure came amid a series of political realignments—primarily related to Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States—leading into the November 1932 elections. Tasked with appointing Dávila’s replacement, Puerto Rican governor James R. Beverley, a recent Herbert C. Hoover administration appointee and a former U.S. Attorney General, navigated the volatile political landscape by soliciting suggestions for nominees from the island’s political parties. The ensuing political scramble sparked protests against the partisan nature of the nomination process. Editorials in major newspapers confirmed the widespread belief that, because Resident Commissioners were elected every four years as part of a party slate, the governor should appoint a representative of the former Alianza (Alliance), which had been absorbed by the Partido Unión Republicano (Union Republican Party), out of respect for Dávila’s former affiliation. “In my opinion,” Rafael Cuevas Zequeira wrote Governor Beverley, removing his name from the list of nominees, “the function of the Governor of Puerto Rico, in good government ethics and considering the political nature of the position of resident commissioner, consists of filling the ministerial duty to fill the vacancy created through the resignation of the office that the people elected and appointing the candidate chosen by the majority party.”</p>

<p>José Lorenzo Pesquera (August 10, 1882 – July 25, 1950) was a Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico.</p>

<p>Born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Pesquera was graduated from Provincial Institute of Puerto Rico in 1897. He attended the Keystone State Normal School in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. in 1901 and 1902. He was graduated from the law department of West Virginia University at Morgantown in 1904. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Puerto Rico. He also engaged in agricultural pursuits and dairying. He served as member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives 1917–1920. He served as director and president of the Agricultural Association of Puerto Rico. He was appointed as a Nonpartisan a Resident Commissioner to the United States to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Félix Córdova Dávila and served from April 15, 1932, until March 3, 1933. He was not a candidate for election in 1932. He returned to his law practice and agricultural interests. He died in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, July 25, 1950, and was interred in Braulio Dueño Colón Municipal Cemetery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.</p>