William J. Fitzgerald

William Joseph Fitzgerald (born March 2, 1887 in Norwich , Connecticut , † May 6, 1947 ibid) was an American politician . Between 1937 and 1939 and again from 1941 to 1943 he represented the second constituency of the state of Connecticut in the US House of Representatives .

Career

William Fitzgerald attended St. Patrick's Parochial School in Norwich and then worked in a foundry which he later ran between 1904 and 1930. In addition to this activity, he began a political career. He became a member of the Democratic Party . In 1916 he was a member of a state committee that dealt with the support of widows. Fitzgerald served in the Connecticut Senate between 1931 and 1935 . At the same time he was the State's Deputy State Commissioner of Labor .

In the 1936 congressional elections, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second district of Connecticut . There he succeeded William L. Higgins of the Republican Party on January 3, 1937 . Since he was defeated by the Republican Thomas R. Ball in the 1938 elections, he was only able to complete one term in Congress until January 3, 1939 . During this time, further New Deal laws were passed by the federal government to overcome the consequences of the global economic crisis .

In 1940 Fitzgerald was the mayor of his native Norwich. In the congressional elections of that year, he was able to win back his seat in Washington and thus between January 3, 1941 and January 3, 1943 to spend another term in the US House of Representatives. This had been overshadowed by the events of World War II since December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . In the 1942 election, William Fitzgerald lost to John D. McWilliams .

Between 1943 and 1945 Fitzgerald was in Connecticut head of the state commission, which dealt with the manpower needed for the war effort ( War Manpower Commission ). He then became head of the Federal Labor Office in Connecticut ( State Director of the United States Employment Services ). He held this office until his resignation in January 1947. William Fitzgerald died on May 6 of the same year in Norwich, where he was also buried.

Web links

• William J. Fitzgerald in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William J. Fitzgerald in the database of Find a Grave (English)