James M. Mead

James M. Mead (1937)

James Michael Mead (born December 27, 1885 in Mount Morris , New York , † March 15, 1964 in Lakeland , Florida ) was an American politician who represented the state of New York in both chambers of Congress .

Life

Mead, who was born in Mount Morris, a small town in Livingston County , moved with his family to Buffalo when he was four . Since his parents could not afford an expensive course of study, Mead had to survive financially after he graduated from school by doing various odd jobs. At first he was a water boy at sporting events, before electric light he worked as a lamp igniter in the streets of Buffalo and most recently he worked on various tram lines, mostly in the shunting staff of railway switches. In 1911 he moved to Washington, DC , where he took a job as a security specialist with the United States Capitol Police .

Mead's political career began in 1914 when he was elected to the Erie County County Council, to which he served for a term. In 1915 Mead was elected to the New York State Assembly , where he held a seat for the Democrats until 1919. In 1918 he ran against Republican William F. Waldow with success for a seat in the House of Representatives of the United States . Mead was re-elected nine times and was always able to record election results around 60 percentage points. In 1938 he announced his intention to run for a vacant seat in the US Senate . In the same year he was elected with 50.7 percentage points to the Second Chamber of Parliament, to which he belonged after a successful re-election in 1940 to 1947. In 1946 Mead was a Democratic candidate for New York gubernatorial election, but was defeated by Republican Thomas E. Dewey .

After leaving the Senate, Mead was a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 1949 to 1955 , before heading the Washington office of the New York Department of Commerce from 1955 to 1956. In 1954 Mead settled in Clermont ( Lake County , Florida), where he also managed an orange plantation. He died in Lakeland, Florida, at the age of 78.

Web links

• James M. Mead in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• James M. Mead in the database of Find a Grave (English)