J. Parnell Thomas

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
J. Parnell Thomas

John Parnell Thomas (born January 16, 1895 in Jersey City , New Jersey , †  November 19, 1970 in Saint Petersburg , Florida ) was an American politician . Between 1937 and 1950 he represented the state of New Jersey in the US House of Representatives .

Career

J. Parnell Thomas attended Allendale Public Schools and then Ridgewood High School . He then studied at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia . During World War I , he served in Europe in the United States Army between 1917 and 1919 . He rose to the rank of captain. From 1920 to 1938 Thomas worked in the investment industry. Since 1938 he was also active in the insurance business in New York City . He also began a political career as a member of the Republican Party . In 1925 he was a councilor in Allendale; from 1926 to 1930 he was mayor of this city.

From 1935 to 1937, Thomas was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly . In the 1936 congressional elections , he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh constituency of New Jersey , where he succeeded Randolph Perkins on January 3, 1937 . After six re-elections, he could remain in Congress until his resignation on January 2, 1950 . During his time in Congress, some of the New Deal laws of the federal government under President Franklin D. Roosevelt were passed there until 1941 . Since 1941, the work of the Congress was also shaped by the events of the Second World War and its consequences. Politically, Thomas was considered very conservative. Between 1947 and 1949 he chaired the Committee on Un-American Activities . Under his leadership, numerous people were interrogated by the committee for alleged communist activities.

Thomas' resignation came after a corruption scandal in which he was accused of, among other things, fraud and favoritism. This resulted in an 18 month jail sentence, which he served in Danbury . At the same time, Lester Cole and Ring Lardner Jr. were also incarcerated there , who, as members of the Hollywood Ten , had refused to cooperate with Thomas' committee and were therefore sentenced to prison terms. After his release from prison, he edited three weekly newspapers in Bergen County between 1951 and 1955 . In 1954 he sought unsuccessfully to re-nominate his party for the congressional elections. Otherwise he worked again in the investment industry. Parnell Thomas died in Saint Petersburg on November 19, 1970.

Individual evidence

  1. The New York Times Book Review: Are You Now or Have You Ever? (November 26, 2000)

Web links

  • J. Parnell Thomas in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)