Thomas J. Manton (November 3, 1932 – July 22, 2006) was an American politician who represented the 9th and 7th Congressional District of

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in 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 chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Early life and education

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Manton was of Irish descent. He attended private Catholic schools and served in the

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during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

from 1951 to 1953. Thereafter, he matriculated at St. John's University, where he earned a

BBA Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

degree in 1958 and an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1962.

Career

Early career

Prior to entering politics, Manton was an officer of the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...

from 1955 to 1960 and served as a

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representative for IBM from 1960 to 1964. After passing the New York bar exam in 1963, Manton worked as a solo practitioner from 1964 to 1984. He was elected to the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government model, the performance of ...

in 1970, also serving until 1984. Manton ran in the Democratic primary for what was then a part of

New York's 9th congressional district New York's 9th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York City, represented by Yvette Clarke. The district is located entirely within Brooklyn. It includes the neighborhoods of ...

in northern

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

in 1978, following the retirement of 30-year incumbent

James J. Delaney James Joseph Delaney (March 19, 1901 – May 24, 1987) was an American politician from New York. He was a member of the Democratic Party and served 16 terms in the House of Representatives from 1945 to 1947 and from 1949 to 1978. Biography Earl ...

. However, he lost to assistant Queens County district attorney

Geraldine Ferraro Geraldine Anne Ferraro (August 26, 1935 March 26, 2011) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee ...

. Manton also ran against Delaney in 1972 and lost.

U.S. House of Representatives

When Ferarro gave up her seat to join

Walter Mondale Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...

's presidential ticket, Manton entered the Democratic primary for the seat. In a hotly-contested primary, he defeated Clifford Wilson, Walter Crowley and Gloria D'Amico before narrowly defeating Republican

Serphin Maltese Serphin R. Maltese (born December 7, 1932) is an American attorney and retired politician from the state of New York. A onetime chairman of the Conservative Party of New York, Maltese served as a state senator from District 15 from 1989 through ...

in the general election with 52 percent of the vote. He was re-elected six more times. Manton was elected chairman of the Democratic Organization of Queens County in 1986, succeeding

John Sabini John D. Sabini is the former chairman of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. He was confirmed by the New York State Senate in August 2008 and served until 2013. Sabini had previously been a member of the State Senate, a Democrat, se ...

who had served as the interim chairman following the suicide of

Donald Manes Donald R. Manes (, ; January 18, 1934 – March 13, 1986) was a Democratic Party politician from New York City. He served as borough president of the New York City borough of Queens from 1971 until just before his suicide while under suspicion ...

. Tom Manton was the first major party chairman in the nation to endorse

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

for during the

1992 United States presidential election The 1992 United States presidential election was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, independen ...

. As the co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs in the House, he was instrumental in obtaining a visa for Gerry Adams to travel to the United States. As a member of Congress, Manton served as a member of the

United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more th ...

and was a subcommittee chairman of the House Government Operations Committee that supervised the

United States Capitol Police The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of Columbia and throughout the United States an ...

. His last vote in the House was to vote against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Retirement

Manton retired from the Congress in 1998, having already filed for and circulated petitions for re-election. He withdrew on the last day it was legally possible to do so and arranged for his chosen successor, State Assemblyman

Joseph Crowley Joseph Crowley (born March 16, 1962) is an American politician and consultant who served as U.S. Representative from New York's 14th congressional district from 1999 to 2019. He was defeated by Democratic primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio-C ...

, to replace him on the ballot. Crowley wasn't aware of this until Manton phoned him to tell him his name would be on the general election ballot. Crowley won the election and held the seat until losing in the 2018 Democratic primary to

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

. Manton continued to serve as the Queens County Democratic Party chairman until his death. After leaving office, he joined the law firm of Manton, Sweeney, Gallo, Reich & Bolz in 1999.

Personal life

After leaving Congress, he lived in the Queens neighborhoods of

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, later moving to Sunnyside, and finally to Astoria. Thomas Manton died on July 22, 2006, following a battle with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

. The Thomas J. Manton Post Office in Woodside, New York was named in his honor after his death. Also a 20 block stretch of Queens Boulevard in

was renamed Thomas J. Manton Boulevard.Stretch Of Queens Boulevard Renamed For Manton
/ref>

References

"Thomas Manton, former congressman from New York, dies"
''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and fo ...

'', July 23, 2006
"Thomas J. Manton Dies; Ex-Congressman Was 73"
by Sewell Chan, July 23, 2006, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Congressional Biographical Directory

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Manton, Thomas 1932 births 2006 deaths St. John's University (New York City) alumni Deaths from prostate cancer United States Marines IBM employees New York City Police Department officers New York City Council members 2000 United States presidential electors 2004 United States presidential electors Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 20th-century American politicians People from Woodside, Queens People from Sunnyside, Queens