James J. Delaney

James J. Delaney (1973)

James Joseph Delaney (born March 19, 1901 in New York City , † May 24, 1987 in Tenafly , New Jersey ) was an American lawyer and politician . He represented New York State in the US House of Representatives between 1945 and 1947 and between 1949 and 1978 .

Career

James Joseph Delaney was born in New York City in the early 20th century. He attended public schools in Long Island City . Delaney then went to the law faculty of St. John's College in Brooklyn , which he left again in 1931 with a Bachelor of Laws . He was admitted to the bar in 1933 and then began practicing in New York City. Between 1936 and 1944 he was the assistant district attorney in Queens County . Politically, he belonged to the Democratic Party .

In the 1944 congressional elections for the 79th Congress , Delaney was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the sixth constituency of New York , where he succeeded Andrew Lawrence Somers on January 4, 1945 . In 1946 he was defeated in his re-election bid and was eliminated from the after January 3, 1947 Congress of.

He then resumed his practice in New York City.

Delaney ran in the sixth constituency of New York for the 81st Congress in 1948 . After a successful election, he succeeded Robert Nodar junior on January 4, 1949 . He was re-elected once. During that time he chaired the Select Committee , which led the investigation into the use of chemicals, pesticides and insecticides in relation to food. In 1952 he was elected to the 83rd Congress in the seventh constituency of New York . On January 4, 1953, he succeeded Louis B. Heller . He was re-elected four times in a row. After a series of lurid articles and Hollywood films in the late 1950s that addressed the issue of youth gang violence, Delaney was one of the first congressmen to advocate a ban on auto-opening or switchblade knives in 1954 . On April 17, 1958 he made the following statement: “Every day our newspapers report numerous muggings and attacks, most of them involving knives. Can we sit by complacently and ignore the bloodshed in our streets? ” The ban on switchblade knives was finally passed in the “ Switchblade Knife Act of 1958 ” . Delaney and other congressmen supported this bill because they believed that disrupting the importation and international sales of automatic knives, particularly switch knives, would reduce youth gang crime. Although switchblade imports, domestic production and sales ended, later legislative research showed that youth gang crime had increased rapidly as gang members used firearms rather than knives. In 1958 he added an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, which prohibits the addition of carcinogens as a food additive, and is now known as the Delaney Clause . In 1962 , he ran as a candidate in the ninth electoral district of New York for election to the 88th Congress . After a successful election, he succeeded Eugene James Keogh on January 4, 1963 . He was re-elected seven times in a row. Delaney declined to run again in the 1978 congressional election and resigned from his seat on December 31, 1978. During his last tenure ( 95th Congress ) he chaired the Committee on Rules . His seat then fell to Geraldine Ferraro .

After his time in Congress, he lived in Key Biscayne, Florida. He died on May 24, 1987 in Tenafly and was then buried in Calvary Cemetery , Queens.

Web links

• James J. Delaney in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James J. Delaney in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Bernard R. Levine: "The Switchblade Menace" , OKCA Newsletter, 1993
2. ^ Knife World, August 1990
3. ^ ^{A b c} "Switchblade Knives: Hearing, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Eighty-fifth Congress, Minutes of the Second Session" , April 17, 1958
4. ↑ Knife World Magazine, August 1990
5. ^ Charles S. Clark, "Youth Gangs Worsening Violence Prompts Crackdowns and Community Mobilization," Congressional Quarterly 1, Oct. 11, 1991, pp. 753-776.