John Parnell Thomas (January 16, 1895 – November 19, 1970) was a stockbroker and

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 ...

. He was elected to seven terms as a

U.S. Representative 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 c ...

from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He was later a convicted criminal who served nine months in federal prison for corruption.

Early life and career

Born as John Parnell Feeney Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey, he changed his name in 1919 to John Parnell Thomas. Raised Catholic, he later became an Episcopalian. After graduating from high school, he studied at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. When the United States entered

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 ...

in 1917, he served overseas with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. Following his discharge from the military in 1919, Thomas worked in the investment securities and insurance business in New York City for the next eighteen years. He entered

Allendale, New Jersey Allendale is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,505,Mayor of Allendale, New Jersey from 1926 to 1930. He was elected to a two-year term to the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

in 1935. In 1936 Thomas was elected to 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 ...

as a Republican Party Representative from

New Jersey's 7th congressional district New Jersey's 7th congressional district includes all of Hunterdon and Warren Counties; and parts of Morris, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties. The district is represented by Republican Thomas Kean Jr., who was first elected in 2022, de ...

, filling the vacancy left by the death of

Randolph Perkins Randolph Perkins (November 30, 1871 – May 25, 1936) was an American Republican Party politician who represented New Jersey's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1921 to 1936. Early life and caree ...

. He would be re-elected six times.

Anti-communism

As a U.S. Congressman, Thomas was a staunch conservative opponent of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

and his New Deal, claiming the President's legislative agenda had "sabotaged the

capitalist system Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...

." Thomas opposed government support for the Federal Theatre Project declaring that "practically every play presented under the auspices of the Project is sheer propaganda for

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

or the New Deal." In 1949 Thomas called the U.S. Secretary of Defense,

James Forrestal James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892 – May 22, 1949) was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense. Forrestal came from a very strict middle-class Irish Catholic fami ...

, "the most dangerous man in America" and claimed that if Forrestal were not removed from office he would "cause another world war."

Demobilization

In the post-war period, Thomas called for a rapid demobilization of the American military. In 1946, he invited

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Dwight Eisenhower to his office to discuss the issue. When he arrived, the general was faced with a table surrounded by soldier's wives, many holding babies. News photographers took photos of the furious Eisenhower.

HUAC

After the Republican Party gained control of the

80th Congress The 80th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 194 ...

in the November 1946 elections, Thomas was appointed chairman of the

House Committee on Un-American Activities The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

(HUAC)–during that period, also called the "Thomas Committee." In May 1947, Thomas traveled to Hollywood to meet with

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, p ...

executives with a view to exposing what he believed was Communist infiltration of motion pictures content by members of the Screen Writers Guild. Returning to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, he shifted the focus of the committee to what he called the "subversives" working in the film business. Under Thomas, in October 1947, HUAC summoned suspected Communists to appear for questioning. These summonses led to the conviction and imprisonment for contempt of Congress of the "Hollywood blacklist, Hollywood Ten" who had refused to answer the Committee's questions, citing the First Amendment.

Corruption charges and imprisonment

Prominent American columnists Jack Anderson (columnist), Jack Anderson and Drew Pearson (journalist), Drew Pearson were critical of Thomas and his committee's methods. Rumors about corrupt practices on the part of Thomas were confirmed when his secretary, Helen Campbell, sent documents to Pearson, which he used to expose Thomas' corruption in an August 4, 1948, newspaper article. The fraud had begun on New Year's Day of 1940, when Thomas placed Campbell's niece, Myra Midkiff, and Campbell's maid, Arnette Minor on his payroll as clerks. Midkiff earned roughly $1,200 a year and was to kick back her entire salary to the Congressman. Through this practice, he would also evade a tax bracket increase. The arrangement lasted for four years. As a result, Thomas and Campbell were summoned to answer to charges of salary fraud before a grand jury.http://fultonhistory.com/newspaper%2010/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201949%20Grayscale/Yonkers%20NY%20Herald%20Statesman%201949%20Grayscale%20-%204088.pdf Thomas refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment rights, the most common stance for which he had criticized accused Communists. Indicted, Thomas was tried and convicted of fraud, fined and given an 18-month prison sentence. He resigned from Congress on January 2, 1950. In an ironic twist, he was imprisoned in Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, Danbury Prison where Lester Cole and Ring Lardner Jr., both members of the "Hollywood Ten" were serving time because of Thomas' inquiries into the film industry.

Post-prison

After his release from prison, Thomas was an editor and publisher of three weekly newspapers in Bergen County, New Jersey. President of the United States, President Harry S. Truman pardoned Thomas on Christmas Eve of 1952. In 1954, Thomas tried to re-enter politics, but was defeated for the Republican Party nomination for Congress.

Death

Thomas died in 1970 in St. Petersburg, Florida, aged 75, of undisclosed causes. He was cremation, cremated, and his ashes were interred in the Elmgrove Cemetery in Mystic, Connecticut.

Depictions

In the 2015 film Trumbo (2015 film), ''Trumbo'', Thomas is portrayed by James Dumont.

References

External links

J. Parnell Thomas' truncated bio
at The Political Graveyard , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, J. Parnell 1895 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians American anti-communists American businesspeople convicted of crimes American politicians convicted of fraud American stockbrokers Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Mayors of places in New Jersey Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly New Jersey lawyers Old Right (United States) People from Allendale, New Jersey New Jersey politicians convicted of corruption Politicians from Bergen County, New Jersey Politicians from Jersey City, New Jersey Politicians from St. Petersburg, Florida Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey United States Army personnel of World War I