John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American
Democratic politician from
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He served as a U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United States Senate in 1916 and 1942 and Governor of Massachusetts in 1922. Fitzgerald maintained a high profile in the city whether in or out of office, and his theatrical style of campaigning and charisma earned him the nickname "Honey Fitz".
He was the father of
Rose Fitzgerald
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Kennedy (July 22, 1890 – January 22, 1995) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and matriarch of the Kennedy family. She was deeply embedded in the "Lace curtain and shanty Irish, lace curtain" Irish Catholic, ...
and maternal grandfather of her sons President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
, Attorney General
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
, and 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 his old age, Fitzgerald helped his grandson John F. Kennedy win his first election to Congress.
Early life and education
John Francis Fitzgerald was born on February 11, 1863, in the
North End of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to Irish immigrant businessman and politician Thomas Fitzgerald of
Bruff,
County Limerick
"Remember Limerick"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Republic of Ireland, Ireland
, subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Ireland, Province
, subd ...
and Rosanna Cox of
County Cavan. He was the fourth of twelve children. Both of his sisters, Ellen and Mary, and his eldest brother, Michael, died in infancy. Fitzgerald's brother Joseph had severe brain damage from
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
. Only three of the children survived in good health.
Fitzgerald's mother died when he was sixteen. His father wished for him to become a doctor to help prevent future deaths of the sort that had marred the family. Accordingly, after being educated at
Boston Latin School and
Boston College, he enrolled at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
for one year, but withdrew following the death of his father in 1885. Fitzgerald later became a clerk at the
Customs House
A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...
in Boston and was active in the local
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
.
Entry to politics
In the 1890s, Fitzgerald founded the Jefferson Club, a political club founded to organize the Irish Catholic voters of South Boston. It was modeled on earlier clubs like
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
in New York and
Martin Lomasney
Martin Michael Lomasney (December 3, 1859 – August 12, 1933) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts.
Lomasney served as State Senator, State Representative, and alderman but is best known as the political boss of Bo ...
's Hendricks Club in the West End of Boston.
Fitzgerald won election to Boston's Common Council in 1891. In 1892, he became a member of the
Massachusetts Senate
The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...
.
These early victories came with support from
Martin Lomasney
Martin Michael Lomasney (December 3, 1859 – August 12, 1933) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts.
Lomasney served as State Senator, State Representative, and alderman but is best known as the political boss of Bo ...
.
United States Representative
In 1894, he was elected to
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 ...
for the 9th district, serving from 1895 to 1901. In his first two terms (1895–1899), Fitzgerald was the only Democrat to represent New England in Congress.
Mayor of Boston
First term (1906–1908)
In
December 1905, Fitzgerald was elected
Mayor of Boston
The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...
. In the process, he made an enemy of the powerful Lomasney by opposing one of Lomasney's lieutenants,
Edward J. Donovan.
[O'Neill, p. 36] After Fitzgerald beat Donovan in the mayoral primary, Lomasney endorsed the Republican candidate,
Louis Frothingham, and delivered 95% of the vote in his usually Democratic ward to Frothingham. However, the Republican vote was split between Frothingham and judge
Henry Dewey, who ran on the Populist ticket after losing the primary. Despite Lomasney's undermining, Fitzgerald won with only a plurality of the vote.
Another opponent of Fitzgerald's during the campaign was
P. J. Kennedy
Patrick Joseph Kennedy (January 14, 1858 – May 18, 1929) was an American businessman and politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He and his wife Mary were the parents of four children, including future U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ...
, a behind-the-scenes Democratic figure. They later became allies. In 1914, their families were united when P. J.'s son
Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the Irish-American Ke ...
married Fitzgerald's eldest daughter
Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
.
Fitzgerald was the first American-born
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the Briti ...
to be elected Mayor.
![Boston_Massachusetts_Chamber_of_Commerce_1907](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Boston_Massachusetts_Chamber_of_Commerce_1907.JPG)
Job-seekers were frequently granted provisional positions to bypass civil service requirements and the city payroll was expanded.
He lost the 1907 election in part because his opponent, Republican
George A. Hibbard, promised he would "clean up
itzgerald'smess." With control of the city and state Government, Republicans revised the city charter to curb the power of the Irish Democratic ward bosses like Fitzgerald and Lomasney. They eliminated the large common council, replaced the board of aldermen with a nine-seat
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...
, extending the mayor's term to four years, and making all offices formally non-partisan, removing the advantage of party recognition in the predominantly Democratic city.
Second term (1910–1914)
In 1910, Fitzgerald ran for Mayor again. His campaign was almost scuttled by a bribery scandal involving no-bid contracts with kickbacks during his first term. Fitzgerald escaped prosecution, but made a long-term enemy in
Daniel H. Coakley
Daniel Henry Coakley (December 10, 1865 – September 18, 1952) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician and attorney from Massachusetts. He was a key figure in early 20th century Boston politics, as an ally Distri ...
, an Irish lawyer who had defended one of the key figures in the business. In addition to his rivalry with Lomasney, Fitzgerald now also had to contend with the rising star of
James Michael Curley
James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...
of Roxbury, who was kept out of the race by assurances that Fitzgerald would serve only one term. Fitzgerald won a narrow victory over
James J. Storrow, a stiff Protestant Republican
Boston Brahmin
The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English coloni ...
.
Early in his first term as Boston's mayor, Fitzgerald had formulated a plan to revitalize the commercial importance of the city under the banner of "a Bigger, Busier and Better Boston." This plan was not pursued by Hibbard but gained traction after Fitzgerald's return to office. Fitzgerald was able to persuade businesses and the Massachusetts legislature to invest $9 million for improvements to the port by 1912. Within a year, the investments began to pay off in the form of new port traffic to and from Europe.
In 1914, Fitzgerald broke his promise to Curley and attempted to run for a second consecutive term. Curley made common cause with Daniel Coakley, and they secured Fitzgerald's withdrawal by threatening to expose a dalliance he had with a
cigarette girl
In Europe and the United States, a cigarette girl is a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and other items like candy, snacks, and chewing gum on their trays.
Uniform
The most ...
, Elizabeth "Toodles" Ryan—who was only 24, the same age as Fitzgerald's daughter Rose—at a local gambling club. Curley was elected in
January 1914 to his first of four terms as Boston mayor.
Later political career
In 1916, Fitzgerald unsuccessfully challenged incumbent United States Senator
Henry Cabot Lodge
Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850 November 9, 1924) was an American Republican politician, historian, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served in the United States Senate from 1893 to 1924 and is best known for his positions on foreign policy. ...
.
Fitzgerald won a close election for the House in 1918, but his opponent
Peter F. Tague
Peter Francis Tague (June 4, 1871 – September 17, 1941) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Boston, Massachusetts.
Early years
Tague was a son of Peter and Mary (Shaw) Tague, immigrants from Ireland. His father was ...
contested the race. Investigators found evidence of fraud in three precincts and when those precincts were eliminated they found Tague to be the winner. Fitzgerald served from March 4 until October 23, 1919, when the House voted unanimously that Fitzgerald had not won and that Tague had.
In 1922, Fitzgerald unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Governor of Massachusetts
Channing Cox.
Retirement
In his later years, Fitzgerald focused on his business interests and on honing the political instincts of his daughter Rose's promising sons.
In 1932, he campaigned for Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President. He was joined by James Michael Curley and P.J. Kennedy. Fitzgerald unsuccessfully tried to recruit Martin Lomasney to the cause as well. After Roosevelt won the election, Fitzgerald's son-in-law Joseph was appointed chairman of the new U.S. Maritime Commission. Joseph would later serve as chairman of the new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and as U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.
In 1942, Fitzgerald ran a quixotic campaign for the U.S. Senate and lost the Democratic primary to Congressman
Joseph E. Casey. (Daniel Coakley finished a distant fourth.)
In 1946, when
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy decided to run for Congress, 83-year-old Honey Fitz helped him plan his campaign strategy. At the victory celebration, Fitzgerald danced an Irish jig, sang "Sweet Adeline," and predicted that his grandson would someday occupy the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
. Shortly after his election to the presidency, President Kennedy renamed the presidential yacht the ''Honey Fitz'' in honor of his maternal grandfather.
Personal life
On September 18, 1889, Fitzgerald married his second cousin Mary Josephine "Josie" Hannon (1865–1964). She was a daughter of Michael Hannon and Mary Ann Fitzgerald. John and Mary had six children:
Rose Elizabeth (1890–1995), Mary (1892–1936), Thomas (1895–1968), John Jr. (1897–1979), Eunice (1900–1923), and Frederick (1904–1935). They had nineteen grandchildren, including Rose's
nine children with Joseph Kennedy.
Fitzgerald was a member of the
Royal Rooters
The Royal Rooters were a fan club for Boston's professional baseball team in the American League in the early 20th century. The team was known as the Boston Americans during the 1901–1907 seasons, and has been known as the Boston Red Sox sin ...
, an early supporters' club for Boston's
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
teams, particularly its
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
team, the modern
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
. At one point, he was the group's chairman and threw out the ceremonial opening pitch at Fenway Park's inaugural game on April 20, 1912, as well as in the
1912 World Series
The 1912 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1912 season. The ninth edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Boston Red Sox and the National League champion New York Giants. The R ...
later that year. His great-granddaughter
Caroline Kennedy
Caroline Bouvier Kennedy (born November 27, 1957) is an American author, attorney, and diplomat serving in the Biden administration as the United States Ambassador to Australia since 2022. She previously served in the Obama administration as th ...
threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park's 100th anniversary celebration on April 20, 2012.
Death
On October 2, 1950, Fitzgerald died in Boston at the age of eighty-seven. His funeral was one of the largest in the city's history. President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
sent his sympathies and Fitzgerald's pallbearers included two U.S. Senators (
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and
Leverett Saltonstall
Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twenty years as a United States senator ...
) two future U.S. Speakers of the House (
John McCormack and
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 ...
), and James Michael Curley. As "Honey Fitz" was carried to his final rest from Holy Cross Cathedral to
St. Joseph Cemetery in
West Roxbury,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, a crowd of thousands gathered along the streets and sang "Sweet Adeline."
Legacy
Of his stylish manner, Robert Dallek wrote:
He was a natural politician—a charming, impish, affable lover of people. ... His warmth of character earned him yet another nickname, "Honey Fitz," and he gained a reputation as the only politician who could sing " Sweet Adeline" sober and get away with it. A pixie-like character with florid face, bright eyes, and sandy hair, he was a showman who could have had a career in vaudeville. But politics, with all the brokering that went into arranging alliances and the hoopla that went into campaigning, was his calling. A verse of the day ran: 'Honey Fitz can talk you blind / on any subject you can find / Fish and fishing, motor boats / Railroads, streetcars, getting votes.' His gift of gab became known as Fitzblarney, and his followers as 'dearos,' a shortened version of his description of his district as 'the dear old North End.'
The official name for the
Central Artery
The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts; it is designated as Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3.
The original Artery, constructed in the 1950s, was named aft ...
highway in Boston was "The John F. Fitzgerald Expressway," until it was torn down in the 1990s as part of Boston's "
Big Dig
The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4&n ...
" project which eliminated the Central Artery and replaced it with a tunnel. The resulting greenway above the tunnel where the expressway had been was named for Fitzgerald's daughter as the "
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a linear park located in several Downtown Boston neighborhoods. It consists of landscaped gardens, promenades, plazas, fountains, art, and specialty lighting systems that stretch over one mile through Chin ...
."
See also
*
Kennedy family tree
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
*
Timeline of Boston
This article is a timeline of the history of the city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
17th century
* 1625 – William Blaxton arrives.
* 1630 - When Boston was founded
** English Puritans arrive.
** First Church in Boston established.
** Septe ...
, 1890s-1910s
*
114th Massachusetts General Court (1893)
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
Fitzgerald election recordsat ourcampaigns.com
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, John F.
1863 births
1950 deaths
People from North End, Boston
Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators
Mayors of Boston
Boston City Council members
Boston Latin School alumni
Boston College alumni
Harvard Medical School alumni
Burials at St. Joseph Cemetery (West Roxbury, Massachusetts)
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
Members of the United States House of Representatives removed by contest