page_title: Brendan Byrne
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Brendan Byrne / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Sign for Brendan T. Byrne State Forest on May 10th 2013
context_page_description: Brendan Thomas Byrne was an American politician, statesman, and prosecutor, serving as the 47th Governor of New Jersey from 1974 to 1982.
  A member of the Democratic Party, Byrne started his career as a private attorney and worked in the New Jersey state government starting in 1955 before resuming his legal career after leaving office in 1982.
  During his time as Governor, Byrne oversaw the opening of the first gambling casinos in Atlantic City, expanded the oceanside municipality's economic base, and established the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate. He also saved a large majority of woodlands and wildlife areas in the state from development.
  In the late 1970s, an FBI wiretap recorded local mobsters calling Byrne, "the man who couldn't be bought," a reference to his high ethical standards. The public's response to this propelled his popularity during an era when many New Jersey politicians were being mired in corruption scandals. Byrne used the quote as the slogan for his successful re-election bid.
context_section_description: In 2006, Rutgers University's Center on the American Governor of the Eagleton Institute of Politics established the Brendan T. Byrne Archive, an online database containing various resources from the Byrne administration, including original documents and video interviews with Brendan Byrne and members of his administration.
  The Brendan T. Byrne State Forest (formerly Lebanon State Forest) is named for him. The Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford was also named for him, although it was renamed the Continental Airlines Arena in 1996.
  Byrne's son, Tom Byrne, was the New Jersey Democratic State Committee chair in the 1990s and was a prospective candidate for the U.S. Senate race in 2000, before withdrawing in favor of eventual winner Jon Corzine, who later became governor.
  In 2011, Byrne was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame along with Queen Latifah, John Travolta, and ten others.
  The Man Who Couldn't Be Bought is a biography of Byrne published in 2015.
caption: The Brendan T. Byrne State Forest
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