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Oil on canvas, Victor Lallier, 1966, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives |
McCORMACK, John William, a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Suffolk County,
Mass., December 21, 1891; attended the public schools; studied law in a private
law office; was admitted to the bar in 1913 and began practice in Boston,
Mass.; member of the State constitutional convention in 1917 and 1918; during
the First World War served in the United States Army in 1917 and 1918; served
in the State house of representatives, 1920-1922; member of the State senate,
1923-1926, serving as Democratic floor leader in 1925 and 1926; delegate to all
Democratic State conventions since 1920; delegate to the Democratic National
Conventions in 1932, 1940, 1944, and 1948; elected as a Democrat to the
Seventieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of James A.
Gallivan and on the same day was elected to the Seventy-first Congress;
reelected to the Seventy-second and to the nineteen succeeding Congresses and
served from November 6, 1928, to January 3, 1971; chairman, Committee on
Territories (Seventieth Congress), Select Committee on Astronautics and Space
Exploration (Eighty-fifth Congress); majority leader (Seventy-sixth through
Seventy-ninth, Eighty-first, Eighty-second and Eighty-fourth through
Eighty-seventh Congresses), minority whip (Eightieth and Eighty-third
Congresses), Speaker of the House of Representatives (Eighty-seventh through
Ninety-first Congresses); was not a candidate for renomination in 1970 to the
Ninety-second Congress; resided in Boston, Mass., until his death in Dedham,
Mass., November 22, 1980; interment in Saint Joseph Cemetery, West Roxbury,
Mass.
BibliographyGordon, Lester I. John McCormack and the Roosevelt Era. Ph.D.
diss., Boston University, 1976; Nelson, Garrison. Irish Identity Politics: The
Reinvention of Speaker John W. McCormack of Boston.
New England Journal of Public Policy 15 (Fall/Winter
1999/2000): 7-34.
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