David I Walsh Papers
David I. Walsh, from Clinton, Massachusetts, was a distinguished politician and alumnus of the College of the Holy Cross. His political career included the Massachusetts State Legislature, Lieutenant Governorship, Governorship and the U.S. Senate. Important firsts include: the first Catholic and Democrat Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, first Catholic Governor of Massachusetts, and first Catholic U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, the first son of immigrant parents to be elected Governor of Massachusetts, and the first Democrat from Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate since the Civil War Senator Walsh served on Education and Labor Committee in the 73rd and 74th Congresses and on the Committee on Naval Affairs in the 74th to 77th and 79th Congresses. The collection consists of the personal and political papers of Walsh and his lengthy career. The collection includes correspondence, bank records, briefs of cases argued in court, news clippings, photographs, political business, personal papers, press releases, speeches (drafts and printed/published), and speech material. There are also several scrapbooks and bound volumes of news clippings, speeches and correspondence that remain unprocessed. The bulk of the collection documents Walsh’s political career in the U.S. Senate from the 1920s to 1940s.
Governor William S. Flynn - Scrapbooks-
William Smith Flynn was born on August 4, 1885. He was a member of the Rhode Island State Senate from 1912 - 1914 and again from 1917 - 1922. Flynn was Governor of Rhode Island from 1923 to 1925, leaving the seat for a failed bid for the United States Senate. He was a member of the American Bar, the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. Flynn died on April 6, 1966. To view this collection, please make an appointment to visit the Holy Cross Archives.
James Michael Curley from Roxbury MA was a controversial politician who was Mayor of Boston four times, Governor of MA one time and a United States Congressman twice. He also served on the Boston Common Council, as a Representative in the MA State Legislature, as Alderman and served on the Boston City Council. He ran in 32 election campaigns throughout his political career beginning in 1897. Curley was the son of Irish immigrants.
John F. Fitzgerald Collection
John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, the son of Irish immigrants, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on February 11, 1863. He was educated at Boston Latin School before attending Boston College. He enrolled at Harvard Medical School for one year, but withdrew following the death of his father in 1885. He became a banker in Boston and obtained a position at the Boston Custom. He worked there from 1886 to 1891.
In 1889, Fitzgerald married his second cousin, Mary Josephine Hannon. The couple had six children, three girls and three boys. Their eldest child, Rose (1890-1995) married Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. in 1914. The Kennedy family was another powerful political family in Boston. Fitzgerald’s grandchildren included the well-known politicians John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy.
Fitzgerald’s political career began in 1891 when he was elected to the Boston Common Council. A year later in 1892, he became a member of the Massachusetts Senate and in 1894, he was elected to the United States Congress for the 9th district. Fitzgerald served in Congress from 1895 to 1901. In December 1905, he was elected Mayor of Boston and was the first American-born Irish-Catholic to be elected to that office. He served two terms from 1906 to 1908 and then from 1910 to 1914. He was succeeded by James Michael Curley. Fitzgerald returned to Congress in 1919 but his term was cut short when his opponent, Peter F. Tague successfully contested the election. After unsuccessful campaigns for Senator and Governor, Fitzgerald resumed his business activities. However, he assisted his grandson, John F. Kennedy in developing his campaign strategy for his election to Congress in 1946.
Fitzgerald died in Boston on October 2, 1950.
William P. Kennedy Collection
William P. Kennedy was born on October 8, 1877 at Lake City, Minnesota. He moved to Massachusetts, where he graduated from College of the Holy Cross in 1900. He received an honorary degree from Holy Cross in 1925 for his achievements as a writer. Kennedy worked for many New England newspapers, including the Springfield Union, the New Haven Palladium, Boston Traveler, Boston Herald, and the Holyoke Evening Telegram, at the last of which he became managing editor. Kennedy spent most of his career working for publications in Washington D.C., where he became a familiar figure on the political scene. He is most noted for his work at The Star, where he was the Capitol Hill reporter where he covered the House of Representatives.
James P. Moran Papers
James P. Moran was born in Buffalo, New York on May 16, 1945. He grew up in Natick, MA and attended the College of the Holy Cross on a football scholarship, graduating in 1967 with a BA in Economics. He went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a Master’s of Public Administration in 1970.
In 1979 Moran was elected to the city council of Alexandria, Virginia, which marked the beginning of a long career in politics. In 1985 and 1988 he was elected to serve as Mayor of Alexandria. He resigned in 1990 when he was elected to his first term in Congress. While a member of Congress, Moran served on the Committee of Appropriations and was a member of the LGBT Equality, Congressional Progressive, Animal Protection, Sudan, Sportsmen’s, International Conservation, Congressional Arts, Congressional Bike, Safe Climate, and Crohn’s and Colitis Caucuses. He was also co-founder of the New Democrat Coalition. He served as representative for Virginia’s 8th District until he retired at the end of his term in January 2015.
After retiring from Congress, Moran accepted positions as a Legislative Advisor at a D.C. area law firm, and accepted a faculty position in Virginia Tech’s School of Public and International Affairs.
John P. O’Brien Papers
John P. O’Brien (February 1, 1873- September 21, 1951) was a politician who was Mayor of New York City from January 1 to December 31, 1933. O’Brien attended College of the Holy Cross for his undergraduate education and Georgetown University for his masters and law degrees. He served as City Corporation Counsel and as a judge in the New York Surrogate Court. O’Brien was nominated for mayor of New York City in a special election after the surprise resignation of Mayor Jimmy Walker in 1932. In office, he is accredited with the city’s expansion of ability to collect taxes, ordering the city’s finances, and trimming the budget. O’Brien was not reelected in 1933. He returned to his legal work and served three times in the Democratic National Convention as a delegate. He died on September 21, 1951 in New York City.
Aram Pothier Papers
Aram Pothier was born on July 26, 1854 to Jules and Domitilde (Dallaire) Pothier, and grew up in Quebec. At the age of 18 he moved to Woonsocket, RI and took a job as a clerk in a grocery store. He was offered a position at the Woonsocket Institution for Savings three years later. He became a bank teller in 1889; Vice President of the bank in 1909 and President in 1913. Pothier remained President of the Woonsocket Institution for Savings until his death in 1928.
Pothier began his political career in 1885 as a member of the Woonsocket School Board. He served two terms in the Rhode Island General Assembly. In 1889 he was Rhode Island's delegate to the Paris Trade Exhibition. Upon his return from Paris, Pothier resumed his political career serving as Woonsocket City Auditor. He made three unsuccessful bids for mayor and in 1893, on his fourth attempt, Pothier was elected mayor of Woonsocket. He served two terms as mayor and then in 1897 turned his attention to state politics when he was elected as Lieutenant Governor. In 1899, Pothier was again appointed to be the Rhode Island Delegate to the International Trade Exposition in Paris. On this trip, Pothier met his future wife, M. Francoise de Charmigny.
Pothier returned to statewide politics in 1908 when he was elected to his first term as Governor. He was the first French-Canadian Governor of RI. He ran and was elected a total of seven times serving four one year and one two year terms from 1909 to 1915. He was elected again in 1924 and served until 1928. While he was Governor, Pothier reorganized the state's financial structure and established the Rhode Island State Police. Pothier also fought for and a won a change from one to two year terms for state office holders. Pothier was serving his seventh term as Governor when he died February 4, 1928.