Jim Hensley

Infobox Person
name = Jim Hensley


imagesize = 168px
caption =
birth_name = James Willis Hensley
birth_date = birth date|1920|4|12
birth_place = San Antonio, Texas
death_date = death date and age|2000|6|21|1920|4|12
death_place = Phoenix, Arizona
other_names =
known_for = One of Arizona's richest men; Father-in-law of U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain
occupation = Businessman
nationality = American
spouse = Mary Jeanne Parks (≈1937-1945)cite news | last=Robbins | first=Ted | title=Cindy McCain's Half Sister 'Angry' She's Hidden | publisher=National Public Radio | date=2008-08-18 | url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93708729 | accessdate=2008-08-18] Marguerite "Smitty" Johnson Hensley (1945-2000)
children = Kathleen Hensley (b. 1943) Cindy Lou Hensley (b. 1954)
alma_mater =
party =
religion =
website =

James Willis "Jim" Hensley (April 12,cite web|url=http://www.wargs.com/political/hensley.html |title=Ancestry of Cindy McCain |accessdate=2008-07-05 |publisher=wargs.com ] 1920cite news | title=Arizona Loses a 'Favorite Son' In Hensley; Businessman Contributed to Politics, Charities | author=John Stanley | publisher="The Arizona Republic" | date=2000-06-23 | page=A18] – June 21, 2000) was an American businessman in the liquor industry, who founded Hensley & Co., headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona and one of the largest Anheuser-Busch beer distributorships in the nation. One of Arizona's richest men at the time of his death, he was the father of Cindy Hensley McCain and the father-in-law of United States Senator and 2000 and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain.

Early life, military service and family

Hensley was born in San Antonio, Texas to James L. Hensley and his wife Jessie. The family was poor and the father an alcoholic.cite news | url=http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=0fd7470d-a41f-4d9e-9328-fd079b476a0a | title=Made Man | author=Scheiber, Noam | publisher="The New Republic" | date=2008-08-20 | accessdate=2008-08-22] They lived in the South until moving to Arizona; Hensley graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1936. He married Mary Jeanne Parks, his high school sweetheart,cite news|author=Halbfinger, David M.|title=For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth|date=August 22, 2008|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/us/politics/23mccain.html|publisher="The New York Times"|accessdate=2008-08-21] around 1937, and worked as a paper salesman.

Hensley and his older brother Eugene first began working in the liquor distribution business before World War II, being in the employ of Kemper Marley, Sr., an Arizona rancher who had become wealthy in the liquor distribution business in Phoenix and Tucson following the end of Prohibition. The brothers started the United Liquor Co. in Phoenix and the United Distribution Co. in Tucson.

Jim Hensley then served three years as an officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.cite news | title=Obituaries: Marguerite "Smitty" Hensley | publisher="The Arizona Republic" | date=2006-10-24 | page=B9] He was a bombardier on B-17 Flying Fortresses. On his thirteenth mission, his plane was shot down over the English Channel; around the same time, his wife gave birth to their daughter, Kathleen Anne Hensley, in February 1943. In all, his planes were shot down two or three times.cite news | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-041408-cindy-mccain,1,5025892,full.story | title=The contrasts of Cindy McCain | author=Jill Zuckman | publisher="Chicago Tribune" | date=2008-04-15 | accessdate=2008-04-23] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Hensley was injured during his service, and sent to a West Virginia facility to recover. There he met Marguerite "Smitty" Smith (née Johnson, Cairo, Illinois, January 16, 1919 – Scottsdale, Arizona, October 11 2006, daughter of Swedish American parents), [cite news | url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061029/news_lz1j29passing.html | title=Transitions / passings | publisher="The San Diego Union-Tribune" | date=2006-10-29 | accessdate=2008-03-07] who had one daughter, Dixie, from a previous relationship.cite news|author=Argetsinger, Amy and Roberts, Roxanne|title=Sibling Revelation: An Overlooked Branch of Cindy McCain's Family Tree|date=August 20, 2008|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082000253_pf.html|publisher="The Washington Post"|accessdate=2008-08-21] Hensley divorced his wife, and shortly thereafter married Marguerite on March 29, 1945 in Memphis, Tennessee while on leave from the USAAF. They would have one child together, Cindy Lou Hensley, born 1954.cite news | url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-041408-cindy-mccain-bio,1,2151434.story | title=Bio of Cindy Hensley McCain | publisher="Chicago Tribune" | date=2008-04-15 | accessdate=2008-04-22] Hensley's first daughter grew up with her mother, but he maintained occasional contact with her.

Early business career, legal issues

Following his discharge in 1945, Hensley and his brother went back to work for Marley in his United Sales Company in Phoenix and United Distributors in Tucson. In 1948, both brothers were prosecuted by the federal government and convicted of multiple counts of falsifying liquor records in a conspiracy to conceal illegal distribution of whiskey against post-war rationing regulations.cite news |url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter6.html |title=John McCain Report: The Senate calls |author=Dan Nowicki, Bill Muller |publisher="The Arizona Republic" |date=2007-03-01 |accessdate=2007-11-23] Jim Hensley received a six-month sentence (later upheld but suspended by an appeals court) while his brother received a year in federal prison, and both were fined. In 1953, Jim Hensley and Marley were charged by federal prosecutors with falsifying liquor records. Defended by future Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, they were acquitted.

In December 1952, the Hensley brothers bought into the Ruidoso Downs racetrack in New Mexico, with Eugene running it and Jim returning to Phoenix.cite book |title = Man of the People: The Life of John McCain |first = Paul |last = Alexander |authorlink=Paul Alexander |url= |id = ISBN 0-471-22829-X |year = 2002 |publisher = John Wiley & Sons pp. 92–93] In a May 1953 hearing before the New Mexico State Racing Commission, the Hensley brothers concealed the existence an equal partner, Clarence "Teak" Baldwin, who had been banned from any ownership role due to illegal bookmaking activities.cite news | date=March 26, 1977 | publisher="Albuquerque Journal" | author=Robert V. Beier | title=Ruidoso Race Track Owners Tied to Arizona Gambling] A 1953 New Mexico State Police investigation found further that Kemper Marley was a financial backer for bookmakers and had connections with Baldwin and with the bookmaking operations of organized crime, a conclusion echoed decades later by the Arizona Project investigative reporting team. [cite news | author=The Arizona Project | title=Phoenix Millionaire Linked to Bolles Slaying | date=March 23, 1977 | publisher="Bucks County Courier Times"] The Hensley brothers gained their Ruidoso Downs racetrack license in 1953, as no New Mexico law barred convicted felons from race track ownership,cite news | publisher=Associated Press for "Albuquerque Journal" | date=August 5, 1955 | title=Politicians Tee Off Over Bitter Ruidoso Race Track Situation] although in 1955 new Governor of New Mexico John F. Simms would say he was "appalled" by the previous administration's decision to do so. Previous Governor Edwin L. Mechem had defended the approval, saying that the Hensleys had been under constant surveillance and deserved continued attention, but that no action was taken against them because the investigation showed that as race tracks go, all laws apparently were being observed.cite news | publisher="Albuquerque Journal" | date=August 13, 1955 | title=Our Slant | author=Ed Minteen] Jim Hensley would sell his interest in Ruidoso Downs to his brother Eugene in 1955 (who would in turn sell it to a Marley-connected company in 1969).

Hensley & Co.

In 1955, Hensley founded the beer distributorship to have his own name, borrowing $10,000 against everything he had to buy a small existing distributorship.cite book | last=Timberg | first=Robert | title= | publisher=Touchstone Books | year=1999 | isbn=0-684-86794-X p. 131.] He was given a state liquor license despite his normally disqualifying past felony conviction. At the start it had 15 workers, sold 73,000 cases of beer a year, and had a 6 percent market share.cite web | url=http://www.abwholesaler.com/hensley/AboutUs/AboutUs | title=About Hensley | publisher=Hensley & Co. | accessdate=2008-03-06] Hensley soon switched to exclusively distributing Anheuser-Busch beer. Under the early names Hensley & Company Distributors and Hensley & Company Wholesale, the company saw decades of steady growth, aided by the Phoenix area becoming one of the fastest-growing regions of the country while the company still maintained exclusivity with Anheuser-Busch. Jim Hensley's tireless sales efforts and the generous wages and benefits he gave employees were also key success factors. By 1980 the business had become quite successful and Jim Hensley was a multi-millionaire.cite news |url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter5.html |title=John McCain Report: Arizona, the early years |author=Dan Nowicki, Bill Muller |publisher="The Arizona Republic" |date=2007-03-01 |accessdate=2007-11-21] Hensley had also distanced himself from Marley, and had helped set up a local hospital; nevertheless, he was never fully accepted by the Phoenix establishment.

In 1981, Hensley hired his new son-in-law John McCain, recently married to his daughter Cindy, Vice President of Public Relations for Hensley & Co.cite news | url=http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/special3/articles/0123biz-hensley.html | title=McCain, his wealth tied to wife's family beer business | author=Dawn Gilbertson | publisher="The Arizona Republic" | date=2007-01-23 | accessdate=2008-03-06] McCain soon left to begin his Congressional career. Jim Hensley's past record with the law, as well as his past connection to Marley (who was suspected by the police in the 1976 car-bomb murder of "Arizona Republic" investigative reporter Don Bolles), became issues in McCain's 1986 campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Hensley died in Phoenix on June 21, 2000.cite news | url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3469/is_26_51/ai_64058738 | title=Distributor Jim Hensley dies at age 80 | publisher="Modern Brewery Age" | date=2000-07-03 | accessdate=2008-03-07] By the time of his death, he was one of Arizona's richest men, although he never sought publicity.cite news | author=Douglas Frantz | url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0E14FC3F540C728EDDAB0894D8404482 | title=The Arizona Ties: A Beer Baron and a Powerful Publisher Put McCain on a Political Path | publisher="The New York Times" | date=2000-02-21 | accessdate=2006-11-29] He held most of the controlling stock in Hensley & Co.,cite news | url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2000-02-17/news/haunted-by-spirits/full | title=Haunted By Spirits | author=Amy Silverman, John Dougherty | publisher="Phoenix New Times" | date=2000-02-17 | accessdate=2008-03-06] although he had withdrawn from daily operational control. With 500 employees, annual revenues were about $220 millioncite news | title=Beer Magnate Jim Hensley Dies | author=John Stanley | publisher="The Arizona Republic" | date=2000-06-23 | page=A1] on 20 million cases of beer sold; Hensley & Co. was the second-largest Anheuser-Busch distributor in the nation,cite news | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/55464959.html | title=Deaths Elsewhere: Jim Hensley | publisher="The Washington Post" | date=2000-06-25 | accessdate=2008-03-09 | format=Fee required] the fifth-largest beer distributorship overall in the nation and the 12th largest privately held company in Arizona. His frequently-amended will left his entire estate to Cindy Hensley McCain, who became the controlling stockholder and chair of the board after his death. His first daughter Kathleen, her husband and children had received substantial ongoing gifts, credit cards, and college tuition payments in the decade before his death, but were left only one modest lump sum from his estate.

Jim Hensley was a major contributor to charity in the Phoenix metropolitan area,cite news | url=http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/1230biz-hensleydelgado1230.html | title=CEO leads company in tradition of giving back | author=Cathryn Creno | publisher="The Arizona Republic" | date=2007-12-30 | accessdate=2008-03-06] starting the Hensley Family Foundation. He also supported groups such as NASCAR and Gilbert Rodeo Days.

References