Edward Patrick Boland (October 1, 1911 – November 4, 2001) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he was a representative from

Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district is located in central Massachusetts (Central Massachusetts is the geographically central region of Massachusetts). It contains the cities of Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, which is the List of citi ...

Early life and education

Boland's father was an Irish immigrant railroad worker. Boland was born in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

and graduated from

Springfield Central High School Springfield Central High School (SCHS) is a public high school located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. The high school is for students in grades 9–12. With an enrollment of more than 2,000 students, Springfield Central High School ...

in 1928. He attended Bay Path Institute and

Boston College Law School Boston College Law School (BC Law) is the law school of Boston College. It is situated on a wooded campus in Newton, Massachusetts, about 1.5 miles from the university's main campus in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. With approximately 800 studen ...

Military service

He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Political career

He was a member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

from 1939 to 1940 and was the Hampden County

register of deeds Recorder of deeds or deeds registry is a government office tasked with maintaining public records and documents, especially records relating to real estate ownership that provide persons other than the owner of a property with real rights over ...

from 1941 to 1952. Boland was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

as a

in 1952. Congressman Boland was in office during the closing of the Springfield Armory in 1968, and was harshly criticized for his inability to prevent its closure. This failure resulted in a challenge to Boland in 1968 by Springfield Mayor

Charles V. Ryan Charles V. Ryan (September 15, 1927 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1962 to 1967, and again from 2004 to 2008. Ryan served as the city's mayor during the 1960s for three t ...

. Boland was re-elected handily with significant help from the family of U.S. Senator

Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

in what was to be the last challenge to Boland by a major contender. Boland's most famous work as a congressman was the 1982

Boland Amendment The Boland Amendment is a term describing three U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, all aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua. The first Boland Amendment was part of the House Appropriations Bill ...

, which blocked certain funding of the

Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

after the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

had supervised acts of sabotage without notifying

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. Boland lived in a Washington apartment with fellow Massachusetts Congressman

Tip O'Neill Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as ...

(whose wife remained in Massachusetts) until 1977. Boland announced in April 1988 that he would not run for a 19th term later that year; he never lost an election in 50 years as an elected official. Earlier, he'd tipped off Springfield mayor Richard Neal about his pending retirement, allowing Neal to get a significant head start in fundraising.Duncan, Philip D., and Nutting, Brian (eds.) (1999). "Neal, Richard E., D-Mass." '' CQ's Politics in America 2000: The 106th Congress''. Washington: Congressional Quarterly. pp. 488–489. . Neal would be unopposed for the Democratic nomination–the real contest in this heavily Democratic district–and has held this seat, now numbered as the

1st district The Innere Stadt (; Central Bavarian: ''Innare Stod'') is the 1st municipal district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the Inn ...

, ever since.

Personal life & death

Boland married at the age of 62, fathering four children. Boland died in 2001 at the age of 90 from natural causes.

References

External links