James Lanzetta
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's20th district
In office January 3, 1937 – January 3, 1939
Preceded by	Vito Marcantonio
Succeeded by	Vito Marcantonio
In office March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935
Preceded by	Fiorello LaGuardia
Succeeded by	Vito Marcantonio
Personal details
Born	(1894-12-21)December 21, 1894 New York City
Died	October 27, 1956(1956-10-27) (aged 61) Broadway
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery,The Bronx, New York
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Ethel Lanzetta
Alma mater	New York University Fordham University
Occupation	Lawyer, jurist

James Joseph Lanzetta (IPA:[lanˈtsetta]) (December 21, 1894 – October 27, 1956) was an engineer, an attorney and a politician, a member of theUnited States House of Representatives fromNew York for two non-consecutive terms, the first from 1933 to 1935 and the second between 1937 and 1939, and a justice in city court. He was appointed as a legislative representative for the government ofPuerto Rico in Washington, DC. After that he served as a city magistrate in New York, and in 1947 was appointed as a justice to the Domestic Relations Court, where he served until his death.

Born inNew York City, he attended its public schools. He graduated from theColumbia University School of Engineering in 1917. He later enrolled inFordham University School of Law, where he graduated in 1924.

Lanzetta joined theUnited States Army forWorld War I as a private in Company C, 302nd Engineers, and he was later a sergeant first class in the 1st Air Service Mechanics Regiment. Lanzetta served overseas from February 1918 to July 1919.

He worked as an engineer and salesman in New York City from 1919 to 1922, and as an assistant supervisor in the city's Department of Markets from 1922 to 1925. He was admitted to the bar in 1925 and commenced practice in New York City.

Active in politics as aDemocrat, he served on the Board of Aldermen from January 1932 to March 1933.

With the help of theTammany Hall bossJimmy Hines,^[1] Lanzetta was elected as aDemocrat to the73rd Congress. He defeated the incumbent CongressmanFiorello H. La Guardia.

He represented the20th district (thenEast Harlem) and served from March 4, 1933, to January 3, 1935. In 1934, in a close race withVito Marcantonio, he lost his bid for re-election to the74th Congress. In 1936, he won back his seat in the75th Congress (causing Marcantonio to suffer his first defeat in what became a long Congressional career), serving from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1939. He ran again in 1938 and 1940, losing both times to Marcantonio, who by then had switched to theAmerican Labor Party.

Embittered by his loss to Marcantonio, in a letter toMartin Dies, the Chair of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Lanzetta suggested that the House refuse to seat Marcantonio because, as the head of a "Communist front organization (International Labor Defense).... he must of necessity believe in communism and the overthrow of our present form of government."

After Lanzetta's 1938 defeat for re-election, he was appointed as legislative representative or counsel for Puerto Rico inWashington, D.C. Although he had never visited the island, he proved popular with its political leaders of all parties and with the residents of Puerto Rico.

Lanzetta later resumed the practice of law. On July 2, 1947, MayorWilliam O'Dwyer appointed him as city magistrate of New York City to fill a vacancy; later that month he was appointed to a full ten-year term. As the result of a one-day shortage of magistrates in March 1948, Lanzetta attracted notice by presiding in five courts in five hours and disposing of 500 cases, 400 of which were in the Downtown Traffic Court.

He served as city magistrate until May 26, 1948, when Mayor O'Dwyer appointed him to a ten-year term as a justice of the city Domestic Relations Court. He served in this capacity until his death in New York City in 1956.

He died on the night of October 27, 1956, while visiting the Greystone Hotel onBroadway. He is buried inWoodlawn Cemetery,The Bronx, New York.

Notes

Sources

• United States Congress."James J. Lanzetta (id: L000091)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• "James Lanzetta, Justice, 61, Dead";The New York Times, October 29, 1956.
• Gerald Meyer,Vito Marcantonio : radical politician, 1902-1954. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1989.

• 1894 births
• 1956 deaths
• Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni
• Fordham University School of Law alumni
• Democratic Party United States representatives from New York (state)
• New York state court judges
• United States Army personnel of World War I
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• Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)
• 20th-century New York state court judges
• 20th-century American lawyers
• American people of Italian descent
• 20th-century New York (state) politicians
• 20th-century United States representatives

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