Joseph C. O'Mahoney

Joseph C. O'Mahoney (1939)

Joseph Christopher O'Mahoney (born November 5, 1884 in Chelsea , Suffolk County , Massachusetts , †  December 1, 1962 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ) who represented the state of Wyoming in the US Senate .

Early years

Joseph O'Mahoney was educated in both denominational and public schools in his youth before graduating from Columbia University in New York . In 1908 he moved to Boulder , Colorado , where he worked as a reporter for the Boulder Herald newspaper . After moving to Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1916, he became an editor at the Cheyenne State Leader . From 1917 to 1920 he served as a secretary on the staff of US Senator John B. Kendrick .

1920 O'Mahoney graduated from the Law School of Georgetown University in Washington , after which he was admitted to the bar and began practicing as a lawyer in Cheyenne and in Washington. From 1925 to 1926 he took part as a delegate at a conference on the unification of legislation at the state level; between 1929 and 1931 he served as a trial lawyer for the city of Cheyenne.

Political career

His political career began with membership in the Democratic National Committee between 1929 and 1934. In 1933 he was appointed Deputy Postal Minister; on December 31, 1933, he resigned from this post because he was the acting successor of the late John B. Kendrick in the US Senate. O'Mahoney also won the by-election to this mandate on November 6, 1934 and remained a senator until January 3, 1953, after several confirmations by voters. During this time he chaired the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs .

In 1952 he suffered a defeat against Frank A. Barrett , Republican governor of Wyoming, when he tried again for re-election . On November 2, 1954, he returned to the Senate, where he took the place of Lester C. Hunt after Hunt's suicide. He was elected simultaneously for the remainder of Hunt's tenure as well as for a separate term that ended on January 3, 1961. O'Mahoney did not run again, resigned from the Senate and went back to work as a lawyer. He died in Bethesda Naval Hospital in December 1962 and was buried in Cheyenne.

Web links

• Joseph C. O'Mahoney in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Joseph C. O'Mahoney in the database of Find a Grave (English)