Harold Giles Hoffman

Harold Giles Hoffman (February 7, 1896 – June 4, 1954) was an American businessman, media personality, and politician who served as the 41st Governor of New Jersey from 1935 to 1938. His time in office was marked by controversy over his support for a sales tax and interference in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. He died while subject to an investigation for embezzlement from his bank and the state government, which he confessed to his daughter before his death.

Hoffman also served two terms representing Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties (as New Jersey's 3rd congressional district) in the United States House of Representatives from 1927 to 1931, represented Middlesex in the New Jersey General Assembly, and served as mayor of South Amboy.

Early life and education Harold Giles Hoffman was born on February 7, 1896, in South Amboy, New Jersey, to Frank Hoffman and Ada Crawford Thom. His mother was the daughter of the painter James Crawford Thom and the granddaughter of Scottish sculptor James Thom. His father's ancestors included the earliest European settlers in New Amsterdam from Sweden and Dutch nobility.

Hoffman attended public schools and worked as a local newspaper reporter while still in high school.

During World War II, Hoffman took military leave from the Unemployment Compensation Commission. He reentered the army as a major in the Transportation Corps on June 15, 1942, and served until June 24, 1946, when he was discharged with the rank of colonel. Upon discharge, Hoffman resumed his position as director of the Unemployment Commission. On February 2, 1950, Hoffman was one of four panelists on the debut presentation of the game show What's My Line? On February 16, 1950, he made a return appearance on What's My Line? In 1953, Hoffman appeared as a panelist on the NBC radio joke-telling program Can You Top This?

Personal life In 1919, Hoffman married Lillie May Moss, the daughter of a prominent South Amboy dentist. intensifying the attacks on Meyner.

Several weeks later, the government released a thorough case against Hoffman, substantiated by a letter to his daughter shortly before his death revealing a long trail of corruption which lasted throughout his career. In the letter, Hoffman admitted to embezzling over $300,000 from the South Amboy Trust Company to pay off early campaign debts after a "certain wealthy elder candidate, who is now deceased" reneged on a promise to cover the debts. Then, from at least 1949 onwards, Hoffman admitted he had used state funds to cover the South Amboy Trust Company's shortages. In addition to these confessions, other charges arose against the former governor and his associates, including the revelation that another state official had blackmailed Hoffman for $150,000 to keep the embezzlement hidden. In the letter to his daughter, Hoffman wrote, "Morality, in its ultimate determination, is a funny thing."

Hoffman is buried in Christ Church Cemetery in South Amboy, New Jersey.