Benoit first ran for mayor of Manchester in 1943 , defeating the sitting Republican mayor , Wilfred A. Laflamme . He quickly rose to prominence in New Hampshire politics , serving as Chairman of the New Hampshire State Democratic Committee in 1944 . In this capacity , he was chosen as a delegate to the 1944 Democratic National Convention in Chicago , where President Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for an unprecedented fourth term . Benoit was the head of Roosevelt 's Granite State re-election campaign in 1944 . Roosevelt carried the state by over 9,000 votes . The following year , Benoit was named state chair of the New Hampshire Democratic Party
1944 Democratic National Convention
1944 Democratic National Convention
Josephat T. Benoit