John M. Ely, Jr. (February 17, 1919 – March 30, 2007) was an American Democratic politician,

purchasing agent Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agency buys goods or servi ...

, and civil rights activist who served two terms in the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

and

Iowa State Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . ...

from 1961 to 1969. Ely was instrumental in abolishing

capital punishment in Iowa Capital punishment has been abolished in Iowa since 1965. Forty-five men were executed by hanging in Iowa between 1834 and 1963 for crimes including murder, rape, and robbery. The first time that Iowa abolished the death penalty was in 1872, as a ...

Early years and education

Ely was born to John Montague Ely, Sr. and Laurel Sullivan Ely. He graduated from Franklin High School and was educated at

Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associat ...

, the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

where he received his degree in 1941. Ely served as a purser in the

United States Merchant Marine United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...

from 1942 to 1945.

Marriage and family

Ely married Polly (Shirley Ward) Ely on June 20, 1942. They had three children, John Montague Ely III (Connie), Martha Ely Goralka (Joseph), and Nathaniel Ward Ely, five grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Opposition to capital punishment

Ely was strongly opposed to capital punishment, a position reinforced after he voluntarily witnessed the execution of

Victor Feguer Victor Harry Feguer (1935 – March 15, 1963) was a convicted murderer and the last federal inmate executed in the United States before the moratorium on the death penalty following ''Furman v. Georgia'', and the last person put to death in ...

on March 15, 1963, the most recent execution in Iowa, and the last federal execution in the United States until the execution of

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third o ...

on June 11, 2001. Ely recounted his memories of the execution saying "The rope snapped, and as he hung in the air, suddenly, he took a deep breath. I dug my elbow into the Associated Press man next to me and said, 'Look, George, human life fighting to preserve itself.'"; in fact, the breathing was the involuntary reflex of the corpse. Ely's push to abolish the state death penalty in Iowa was supported by Governor

Harold Hughes Harold Everett Hughes (February 10, 1922 – October 23, 1996) was the 36th Governor of Iowa from 1963 until 1969, and a United States senator from Iowa from 1969 until 1975. He began his political career as a Republican but changed his affil ...

, who also opposed the death penalty.

Legislative service

Ely served from January 9, 1961, to January 10, 1965, in the

, representing the 48th District ( Linn County), and as a member of the

from January 11, 1965, to January 12, 1969, representing the 20th (

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

) and 24th (Linn County) Districts respectively. Ely's signature achievements were the successful repeal of Iowa's

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

in 1965, his co-sponsorship of the ''Fair Housing Bill of Iowa'', and his efforts towards establishing the

Iowa Civil Rights Commission The Iowa Civil Rights Commission is the state agency that enforces the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965, Iowa's anti-discrimination law. Commissioners Executive Director *Kristen Stiffler Current commissioners *Marcelena Ordaz - Chairperson ...

and passing the ''Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965'' and the ''Open Housing Law of 1967''.

Later years and death

Ely continued to work for the

Quaker Oats Company The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. S ...

until he retired in 1984. Among Ely's activities later in life was his work as a "citizen-lobbyist", pressing Congress for

micro-enterprise A micro-enterprise (or microenterprise) is generally defined as a small business employing nine people or fewer, and having a balance sheet or turnover less than a certain amount (e.g. €2 million or PhP 3 million). The terms microenterprise and ...

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

in developing countries, and the Global Health Fund which sought to combat

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. Ely was also a mentor to countless young people in the Cedar Rapids area, many of whom went on to be community leaders and activists. He died from complications of surgery in St. Luke's Hospital in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

, on Friday, March 30, 2007. His cremated remains were inurned in Oak Hill Cemetery. Later in 2007, John Ely's wife, Polly Ely, accepted the ''Iowans Against The Death Penalty Gov. Harold E. Hughes Award'' on his behalf. Polly Ely died on May 15, 2008, also aged 88. Ely was remembered in 2009 in a joint memorial service for twenty-five deceased Iowa lawmakers, held at the

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

Affiliations

Ely served on the board of

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...

, the Visiting Nurses Association, and was President of the Oak Hill Cemetery Board. He was also active in the

United Nations Association A United Nations Association (UNA) is a non-governmental organization that exist in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of member states and the United Nations to raise public awareness of the UN and its work, to promot ...

, the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, and the Hawkeye chapter of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, the Iowa affiliate of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

. Ely was a member of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

. He was a longtime member of the Peoples Church Unitarian-Universalist in Cedar Rapids.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ely, John 1919 births 2007 deaths Politicians from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Democratic Party members of the Iowa House of Representatives Democratic Party Iowa state senators American anti–death penalty activists Princeton University alumni American Unitarian Universalists Coe College alumni University of Iowa alumni United States Merchant Mariners PepsiCo people Place of birth missing 20th-century American politicians United States Merchant Mariners of World War II