James Michael MEAD, Congress, NY (1885-1964)

MEAD, James Michael, a Representative and a Senator from New York; born in Mount Morris, Livingston County, N.Y., December 27, 1885; moved to Buffalo, N.Y., with his parents in 1890; attended the grammar, technical, and evening schools of Buffalo, N.Y.; employed as a water boy, lamplighter, spike mauler, and switchman on various railroads; member of the Capitol police force in Washington, D.C., in 1911; served on the board of supervisors of Erie County in 1914; member, State assembly 1915-1918; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth and to the nine succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1919, until his resignation on December 2, 1938; was not a candidate for renomination in 1938, having become a candidate for Senator; elected on November 8, 1938, as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Royal S. Copeland; reelected in 1940, and served from December 3, 1938, to January 3, 1947; was not a candidate for renomination in 1946; unsuccessful for the gubernatorial nomination in 1942 and for election as Governor in 1946; member of the Federal Trade Commission 1949-1955; director of Washington office of the New York Department of Commerce 1955-1956; moved to Clermont, Fla., in 1954 and operated an orange grove until his death in Lakeland, Fla., on March 15, 1964; interment in Oakhill Cemetery, Clermont, Fla.

Bibliography

Dictionary of American Biography; Maher, Sister M. Patrick Ellen. “The Role of the Chairman of a Congressional Investigating Committee: A Case Study of the Special Committee of the Senate to Investigate the National Defense Program, 1941-1948.” Ph.D. dissertation, St. Louis University, 1962; Mead, James M. Tell the Folks Back Home. New York: Appleton-Century, 1944.

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