Thomas Charles O'Brien (June 19, 1887 – November 22, 1951) was an American attorney and politician who served as District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts and was the United States vice-presidential nominee for the Union Party in the

1936 United States presidential election The 1936 United States presidential election was the 38th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Gov ...

Early life

O'Brien was born on June 19, 1887, in Brighton. 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 1908 and Harvard Law School in 1911. Thomas O'Brien identified as

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

and was a practicing Catholic.

Political career

O'Brien was an unsuccessful candidate for 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 ...

in 1912 and 1913. He was appointed to the state parole board in 1913 and from 1916 to 1919 he was deputy director of prisons. In 1919 he was appointed Boston's commissioner of penal institutions by Mayor

Andrew James Peters Andrew James Peters (April 3, 1872 – June 26, 1938) was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives and was the 42nd Mayor of Boston. Early years Peters was born on April 3, 1872, in Jamaica Plain, a neigh ...

. In 1922 he was appointed District Attorney of Suffolk County to fill the unexpired term of Joseph C. Pelletier. He was a candidate for Mayor of Boston in 1925. He finished 5th in the 10 candidate field behind

Malcolm Nichols Malcolm Edwin Nichols (May 8, 1876 – February 7, 1951) was a journalist and a U.S. political figure. Nichols served as the Mayor of Boston in the late 1920s. He came from a Boston Brahmin family and was the most recent Republican to serve in t ...

, Theodore A. Glynn,

Joseph H. O'Neil Joseph Henry O'Neil (March 23, 1853 – February 19, 1935) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, O'Neil moved with his parents to Boston in 1854. He attended the common schools. He graduated fr ...

, and

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 1926, O'Brien was defeated for reelection by William J. Foley. In 1930 he was a candidate 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

William M. Butler William Morgan Butler (January 29, 1861March 29, 1937) was a lawyer and legislator for the State of Massachusetts, and a United States Senator. Biography Butler was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he attended the public school and stud ...

. He finished third in the Democratic primary behind Marcus A. Coolidge and Joseph F. O'Connell. In 1936, O'Brien left the

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 ...

to join the Union Party, a political party formed by supporters of Rev.

Charles Coughlin Charles Edward Coughlin ( ; October 25, 1891 – October 27, 1979), commonly known as Father Coughlin, was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based in the United States near Detroit. He was the founding priest of the National Shrine of the ...

's National Union for Social Justice. He was the party's candidate for vice president of the United States and the United States Senate in Massachusetts. The Union Party's ticket of U.S. Representative

William Lemke William Frederick Lemke (August 13, 1878 – May 30, 1950) was an American politician who represented North Dakota in the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Republican Party. He was also the Union Party's presidential cand ...

and O'Brien received 2% of the vote in the presidential election. In the Senate election, O'Brien received 10% and 1.6% of the vote in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, and 7.4% of the vote in the general election on the Union ticket.''Massachusetts Election Statistics 1936'' A longtime labor lawyer, O'Brien served as regional counsel for the

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was a labor organization for railroad employees founded in 1883. Originally called the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen, its purpose was to negotiate contracts with railroad management and to provide in ...

and the

Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen The Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (BRS) is a labor union in the United States. It represents workers who install, maintain, and repair railroad traffic control systems. These include switching, signaling, and highway-rail crossing warning sy ...

. He died on November 22, 1951, of a heart ailment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Thomas C 1887 births 1951 deaths 20th-century American politicians American labor lawyers District attorneys in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers Politicians from Boston Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen people 20th-century American lawyers Union Party (United States) politicians