Joseph Lee (1901-1991) was an American politician who served ten terms on the Boston School Committee.

Early life

Lee was born in 1901 in

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 ...

. His father, Joseph Lee, was a recreation advocate and Boston School Committee member known as the "father of the American playground". His grandfather, was a founder of Lee, Higginson & Co. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

in 1922 and then attended the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. After graduating, Lee worked on a ranch in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, the

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901 ...

in Massachusetts, and was a reporter for the ''

Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before it folded in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston, Massachusetts, Boston businessmen, Charles Gordon Greene, Charles G. Gr ...

''. He also worked for fourteen years as a freelance writer. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served in the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

Political career

Early school committee years

In 1937, Lee was elected to the Boston School Committee. He was reelected in 1939. During his first stint on the committee, Lee was credited with introducing 7th, 8th and 9th grade economics courses. He attempted to eliminate Latin and foreign language courses, stating that "only modern language of today is the language of economics." In 1940, he stated that a proposed pay increase for female teachers would "encourage birth control and race suicide."

Unsuccessful bids for higher office

In 1940, Lee ran for a seat on the

Massachusetts Governor's Council The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Council ...

, but lost the Democratic primary to

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 ...

. In 1941, he ran for

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- ...

. He finished a distant third behind incumbent

Maurice J. Tobin Maurice Joseph Tobin (May 22, 1901July 19, 1953) was an American politician serving as Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, the Governor of Massachusetts, and United States Secretary of Labor. He was a member of the Democratic Party and a liberal that ...

and former Mayor

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 ...

, but ahead of another former Mayor, Malcolm E. Nichols. In 1942 Lee lost the Democratic primary for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

seat held by

Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985) was an American diplomat and Republican United States senator from Massachusetts in both Senate seats in non-consecutive terms of service and a United States ambassador. He was considered ...

He finished third in the Democratic primary behind Joseph E. Casey and

John F. Fitzgerald John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served as a U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United ...

, but ahead of Coakley. Lodge resigned in 1944, and Lee ran in the special election. He finished second in the Democratic primary with 26% to John H. Corcoran's 34%. In 1945, Lee once again an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Boston. The following year he lost his bid for 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 ...

seat in

Massachusetts' 11th Congressional district Massachusetts's 11th congressional district is an obsolete congressional district in eastern Massachusetts. It was eliminated in 1993 after the 1990 U.S. census. Its last congressman was Brian Donnelly; its most notable were John Quincy Adams ...

Recreation advocacy

Lee also fought for increased recreational activities for both adults and children. He campaigned for public skating on the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

and

Jamaica Pond Jamaica Pond is a kettle lake, part of the Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The pond and park are in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, close to the border of Brookline. It is the source of the Mud ...

. He helped establish the Massachusetts Committee to Further Outdoor Recreation and the Boston Board of Recreation. During the 1940s he served as chairman of the Boston Park Commission.

Later school committee tenure

In 1953, Lee was once again elected to the Boston School Committee. He was reelected in 1955. In 1956 he was elected committee chairman. He lost in 1957, but returned in 1959 for the first of six consecutive terms. In 1962 and 1970 he was the committee chairman. He lost his bid for reelection in 1971, following an effort by the Boston Teachers Union to unseat him.

Personal life and death

Lee's first wife, Kathleen Nolan, died in 1951. In May 1960, Lee, then 59, married Ariel Foley Duff, a 26-year old widow. Lee died on November 6, 1991 at a nursing home in

Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain is a neighborhood of in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Settled by Puritans seeking farmland to the south, it was originally part of the former Town of Roxbury, now also a part of the City of Boston. The commun ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Joseph 1901 births 1991 deaths Harvard University alumni Boston School Committee members University of Texas alumni Massachusetts Democrats The Boston Post people