John Joseph O'Connor (November 23, 1885 – January 26, 1960) was an American lawyer and politician from New York City. From 1923 to 1939, he served eight terms in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

. A leader of the conservative Democrats, he chaired the powerful House Rules Committee. President Franklin Roosevelt made him a major target of his purge of Democrats who opposed the New Deal, and he was defeated in 1938.

Early life and education

O'Connor was born in

Raynham, Massachusetts Raynham () is a New England town, town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately south of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston and northeast of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was ...

. He graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in 1908 and

Harvard University School of Law Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United States. Each class ...

in 1911.

Political career

He was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

(New York Co., 12th D.) in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

and

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

Tenure in Congress

He was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the

68th United States Congress The 68th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from March 4, 192 ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the death of W. Bourke Cockran, and was re-elected to the seven succeeding Congresses, holding office from November 6, 1923, to January 3, 1939. He was a delegate at large to the

1936 Democratic National Convention The 1936 Democratic National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from June 23 to 27, 1936. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Vice President John N. Garner for reelection. Changes t ...

. O'Connor was one of the few Democrats targeted in the 1938 primaries by

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to be defeated. He eventually switched parties and was the Republican nominee but lost re-election.

Rules chairman

He was chairman of the

House Rules Committee The Committee on Rules (or more commonly the Rules Committee) is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for the rules under which bills will be presented to the House of Representatives, unlike other committ ...

between 1935 and 1938. O'Connor was a spokesman for big business and helped defeat Roosevelt's executive reorganization bill. He tried and failed to keep the Fair Labor Standards Act bottled up in committee. Ridiculing the

New Deal Coalition The New Deal coalition was an American political coalition that supported the Democratic Party beginning in 1932. The coalition is named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, and the follow-up Democratic presidents. It was ...

, he mocked the poor people who “go to the public trough to be fed.”Susan Dunn, ''Roosevelt's Purge: How FDR Fought to Change the Democratic Party'' (2010) p. 202.

Death and burial

He died in Washington, and was interred at

Gate of Heaven Cemetery Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is baseb ...

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

References

Bibliography

* * Polenberg, Richard. “Franklin Roosevelt and the Purge of John O’Connor: The Impact of Urban Change on Political Parties.” ''New York History'' 49#3 (1968), pp. 306–26
online

External links

* Brown University alumni Harvard Law School alumni 1885 births 1960 deaths Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Silver Spring, Maryland) People from Raynham, Massachusetts 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives {{NewYork-Representative-stub