James Aloysius O'Gorman

James Aloysius O'Gorman

James Aloysius O'Gorman (born  May 5, 1860 in New York City , †  May 17, 1943 ibid) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of New York in the US Senate .

James O'Gorman first attended the public schools in his hometown and then the College of the City of New York . In 1882 he graduated from New York University with a law degree , after which he was inducted into the state bar that same year. From 1893 to 1899 he was a member of the New York District Court before he was elected judge on the New York Supreme Court , where he remained from 1900 to 1911.

O'Gorman became a US Senator as a compromise candidate. At that time, the election was still made by the parliaments of the respective states, with the Democratic Party having a majority in both the House of Representatives and the New York Senate . This made a re-election of Republican Senator Chauncey Depew unlikely. The Democratic candidate for the successor was former Lieutenant Governor William F. Sheehan , whom Charles Francis Murphy , head of the influential "party machine" Tammany Hall , supported significantly. However, a group of 19 Democratic members of parliament formed around State Senator Franklin D. Roosevelt , who did not want to be dictated to their decision by external people and therefore rejected Sheehan's election.

As a result, the vote reached a dead end. Sheehan achieved a majority, but this was not absolute and was therefore not enough for the election. There was a ballot every day except Sundays for three months, but none led to a decision. After 62 unsuccessful attempts - during this time the actual parliamentary work came to a complete standstill - "Boss" Murphy finally proposed Judge O'Gorman, who had received a vote for the first time in the first internal vote of the Democrats on March 27th. After he was settled, O'Gorman was elected Senator on March 31, with 112 votes out of 192. On the same day he resigned from his judicial office.

O'Gorman's Senate career was less spectacular than his election. He served a six-year term in Congress during which he served on the Judiciary Committee and chaired the Committee on Interoceanic Canals . He did not run for re-election, which was in the hands of the citizens for the first time due to the 17th Amendment to the Constitution ; the mandate fell to the Republican William M. Calder . O'Gorman then worked as a lawyer in New York and was also a curator at New York University and the College of New Rochelle . He was before the New York County Lawyers' Association and was appointed official arbitrator at the New York Supreme Court in 1934, which he remained until his death on May 17, 1843.

Web links

Commons : James Aloysius O'Gorman  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• James Aloysius O'Gorman in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James Aloysius O'Gorman in the database of Find a Grave (English)