Michael Aloysius Feighan (February 16, 1905 – March 19, 1992) 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
Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Greater Cleveland, Greater Clevelan ...
, near
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
. He served as a member of the
Ohio House of Representatives, and as a
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 ...
U.S. Representative from 1943 to 1971, serving
Ohio's 20th congressional district
The 20th congressional district of Ohio was created after the 1840 census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connect ...
.
Originally, he was recruited by national Democrats who wanted to replace Congressman
Martin L. Sweeney
Martin Leonard Sweeney, Sr. (April 15, 1885 – May 1, 1960), was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Ohio and the father of Robert E. Sweeney.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Sweeney attended parochial and public schools in the area, ...
(D-OH), who had for eleven years held the seat representing the west side of Cleveland. They considered Sweeney to be too isolationist; for example, he had argued against enacting
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
After Feighan had served almost three decades in the House of Representatives, some local Democratic officials, led by
Cleveland City Council
Cleveland City Council is the legislative branch of government for the City of Cleveland, Ohio. Its chambers are located at Cleveland City Hall at 601 Lakeside Avenue, across the street from Public Auditorium in Downtown Cleveland. Cleveland Ci ...
President
James V. Stanton
James Vincent Stanton (February 27, 1932 – May 2, 2022) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms as a U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1971 to 1977.
Early life and career
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Stanton graduated from ...
, had grown tired of his leadership. Sensing that they could not beat Feighan in one election, they set up a
stalking horse
A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge on behalf of an anonymous third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the anonymous third party can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk o ...
running a
Michael A. Sweeney, a local lawyer with a good political name. Sweeney lost, but his vote total showed that Feighan could be vulnerable in a rematch. Four years later, in 1970, Stanton himself ran and defeated Feighan in the Democratic primary, concluding Feighan's political career.
During the legislation of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The l ...
Feighan insisted that "family unification" should take priority in immigration policy over "employability", on the premise that such a weighting would maintain the existing ethnic profile of the country. That change instead resulted in
chain migration
Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country.
John S. MacDonal ...
dominating the subsequent patterns of immigration to the United States and consequently a more ethnically diverse population.
Electoral history
See also
References
External links
Michael Feighan Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feighan, Michael A.
1905 births
1992 deaths
Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Princeton University alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Politicians from Cleveland
People from Lakewood, Ohio
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio
20th-century American politicians