Maurice Connolly

Maurice Connolly (born March 13, 1877 in Dubuque , Iowa , † May 28, 1921 at Indian Head , Maryland ) was an American politician . Between 1913 and 1915 he represented the state of Iowa in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Maurice Connolly attended the public schools of his home country and then until 1897 Cornell University in Ithaca ( New York ). After studying law at New York University in New York City , he was admitted to the bar in 1899. He later took courses at Balliol College at the University of Oxford and at Heidelberg University . In 1903, after the death of his father, he took over his company, the Connolly Carriage Co. , which manufactured carriages. He later got into the insurance and banking business.

Politically Connolly was a member of the Democratic Party . In 1912 he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the third constituency of Iowa , where he succeeded Republican Charles E. Pickett on March 4, 1913 . Like his fellow party member Woodrow Wilson , who was elected president that same year , he benefited from a split in the Republican Party in the elections. These divided their votes between the supporters of President William Howard Taft and the former President Theodore Roosevelt . By March 3, 1915, Connolly served a term in Congress . During this time, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution was passed, which required direct election of US Senators nationwide.

In 1914, Connolly ran for the US Senate. The new direct electoral law was first applied in Iowa; previously the US Senators from Iowa had been elected by the legislature. Connolly's candidacy was unsuccessful: it was defeated by the Republican incumbent Albert B. Cummins . Also in 1914, Connolly was chairman of the local Democratic Party convention in Iowa. In 1916 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis , on which President Wilson was nominated for a second term. In addition, Connolly was then appointed postman in Dubuque.

During World War I , Maurice Connolly served as a major in the US Army Air Force . But it was not used in Europe. After the war, Connolly worked for the Army Air Corps in Washington. At times he also appeared as an aerobatic pilot at benefit events. He later represented the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company in the federal capital Washington. Maurice Connolly died in a plane crash near Indian Head, Maryland and was buried in Dubuque.

Web links

• Maurice Connolly in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Maurice Connolly in the database of Find a Grave (English)