It is my happy privilege to be able to stand here and tell you that if you elect me you will have elected a governor who has made no promises of preferment to any man or group.

In 1940 he won election as Governor of New Jersey running in reaction to the political machine run by Frank Hague but broke with family tradition by declaring himself a Democrat. They had no children. On January 18 1937 President Roosevelt appointed Charles Edison as Assistant Secretary of the Navy then as Secretary on January 2 1940 Claude A.

Charles Edison (August 3 1890 – July 31 1969) was a son of Thomas Edison and Mina Miller. He was a businessman who became Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy and served as the 42nd Governor of New Jersey.