David Ignatius WALSH, Congress, MA (1872-1947)

WALSH, David Ignatius, a Senator from Massachusetts; born in Leominster, Worcester County, Mass., November 11, 1872; attended the public schools; graduated from Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., in 1893 and from Boston University Law School in 1897; admitted to the bar and commenced practice at Fitchburg, Mass., in 1897, later practicing in Boston; member, State house of representatives 1900-1901; lieutenant governor of Massachusetts 1913 and Governor 1914-1915; chairman of the National Governors Conference 1914-1915; delegate at large to the Massachusetts constitutional convention in 1917 and 1918; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1919, to March 3, 1925; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1924; resumed the practice of law in Boston; elected to the United States Senate on November 2, 1926, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry Cabot Lodge and took his seat December 6, 1926; reelected in 1928, 1934 and 1940 for the term ending January 3, 1947; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946; chairman, Committee on Education and Labor (Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Seventy-fourth through Seventy-seventh and Seventy-ninth Congresses); retired from political activities and resided in Clinton, Mass., until his death; died in Boston, Mass., June 11, 1947; interment in St. John’s Cemetery, Clinton, Mass.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Flannagan, John H., Jr. “The Disillusionment of a Progressive: U.S. Senator David I. Walsh and the League of Nations Issue, 1918-1920.” New England Quarterly 41 (December 1968): 483-504; Wayman, Dorothy G. David Walsh: Citizen Patriot. Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1952.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present