Joseph W. Martin Jr. | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Martin in 1940 | |
| 44thSpeaker of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Rayburn |
| Succeeded by | Sam Rayburn |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Rayburn |
| Succeeded by | Sam Rayburn |
| House Minority Leader | |
| In office January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1959 | |
| Deputy | Leslie C. Arends |
| Preceded by | Sam Rayburn |
| Succeeded by | Charles A. Halleck |
| In office January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Deputy | Leslie C. Arends |
| Preceded by | Sam Rayburn |
| Succeeded by | Sam Rayburn |
| In office January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1947 | |
| Deputy | Harry Lane Englebright Leslie C. Arends |
| Preceded by | Bertrand Snell |
| Succeeded by | Sam Rayburn |
| Chair of theRepublican National Committee | |
| In office July 8, 1940 – December 7, 1942 | |
| Preceded by | John Hamilton |
| Succeeded by | Harrison E. Spangler |
| Leader of the House Republican Conference | |
| In office January 3, 1939 – January 3, 1959 | |
| Deputy | Harry Lane Englebright Leslie C. Arends Charles A. Halleck Leslie C. Arends Charles A. Halleck Leslie C. Arends |
| Preceded by | Bertrand Snell |
| Succeeded by | Charles A. Halleck |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts | |
| In office March 4, 1925 – January 3, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | Robert M. Leach |
| Succeeded by | Margaret Heckler |
| Constituency | 15th district (1925–1933) 14th district (1933–1963) 10th district (1963–1967) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph William Martin Jr. (1884-11-03)November 3, 1884 |
| Died | March 6, 1968(1968-03-06) (aged 83) Hollywood, Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
Joseph William Martin Jr. (November 3, 1884 – March 6, 1968) was an AmericanRepublican politician who served as the44thspeaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949 and 1953 to 1955. He represented a House district centered on his hometown ofNorth Attleborough, Massachusetts, from 1925 to 1967 and was the leader of House Republicans from 1939 until 1959, when he was ousted from leadership after the party's disastrous losses inthe 1958 elections. He was the only Republican to serve as Speaker in a sixty-four year period from 1931 to 1995. He was a "compassionate conservative" who opposed theNew Deal and supported theconservative coalition of Republicans andsouthern Democrats.[1]
Early in his career, Martin worked as a newspaper editor and served in both houses of theMassachusetts General Court. He won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1924. He was electedHouse Minority Leader after the 1938 elections. He also served as Chairman of theRepublican National Committee from 1940 to 1942 at the behest ofWendell Willkie, the 1940 Republican presidential nominee. Martin presided over fiveRepublican National Conventions and frequently became involved in presidential politics. He urged GeneralDouglas MacArthur to seek the 1952 Republican presidential nomination, and supporters ofRobert A. Taft accused Martin of favoringDwight D. Eisenhower in Martin's role as chairman of the contentious1952 Republican National Convention. After Eisenhower won the 1952 election, Martin supported Eisenhower's internationalist foreign policy.
Martin lost his position as Republican leader after the party lost seats in the1958 elections. He was succeeded by his more conservative deputy,Charles A. Halleck. Martin continued to serve in Congress until his defeat in the 1966 Republican primary byMargaret Heckler. Martin died inHollywood, Florida, in 1968.
Martin was aZionist who supported the recognition of thestate of Israel.[2]
Joseph Martin was born in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, the son of Catherine (née Keating) and Joseph William Martin, a blacksmith.[3] Keating was born inIreland in 1862, immigrated fromDublin toNew York City in 1878, and settled inNewark, New Jersey, where she met Martin Sr., and they married on July 2, 1882; because Martin was aPresbyterian, the union required amatrimonial dispensation, but because Martin Sr. was a Presbyterian, it was relatively easy to obtain.[4] Martin Jr. graduated fromNorth Attleborough High School, where he played shortstop on the school baseball team. He also played semi-professional ball in an intercity league, from which he earned ten dollars per game.[5]
Martin served in theMassachusetts House of Representatives (1912–1914),Massachusetts Senate (1914–1917) and theUnited States House of Representatives (1925–1967). He was apresidential elector in1920.[6]
Martin was theChairman of the Republican National Committee from 1940 to 1942, having been recruited to that position by presidential nomineeWendell Willkie, whose nomination came as a complete surprise to political pro Martin. During theNew Deal, he stood out as a major opponent ofFranklin D. Roosevelt's policies and opposed his internationalist outlook on foreign affairs. However, he supported a few New Deal measures, such as the establishment of theminimum wage.
During the 1940 presidential campaign, Martin achieved a measure of notoriety as one-third of President Roosevelt's famous denunciation of "Martin, Barton and Fish." The other two were fellow GOP House membersBruce Fairchild Barton andHamilton Fish III.
Martin wonre-election in 1946 against the social justice activistMartha Sharp. During his campaign, he called the 41-year-old woman a "little girl".[7]
After 1952, Martin joined themoderate wing of the Republican Party and supportedDwight D. Eisenhower's internationalist outlook (through support of foreign aid), endorsed federal aid for school construction, and backedLyndon B. Johnson'sEconomic Opportunity Act of 1964.
In 1960,McGraw-Hill publishedMy First Fifty Years in Politics, by Joe Martin as told to Robert J. Donovan, a lively and detailed account of Martin's role in American politics over half-a-century. Martin was the longtime publisher ofThe Evening Chronicle newspaper in North Attleborough. After his death it merged with a nearby rival and becameThe Sun Chronicle newspaper.
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Martin was electedHouse Minority Leader following Republican gains in the1938 elections. He served asSpeaker of the House of Representatives for two terms, separated in time: from 1947 to 1949, and from 1953 to 1955. The terms represented two Republican short-term majorities in the House, and Martin's two terms were bookended bySam Rayburn, theTexas Democrat and mentor of Lyndon Johnson with whom Martin enjoyed a warm personal relationship.
Probably the most controversial moment of Martin's congressional career came in April 1951, when he read on the floor of Congress a letter he had received from GeneralDouglas MacArthur, who was commanding US troops fighting in theKorean War. PresidentHarry S Truman had decided on peace negotiations as the best way out of the grinding conflict. MacArthur's letter, written in response to one from Martin asking for the general's views on Truman's policy, was scathingly critical of the president.
Martin had hoped that disclosing the letter's contents would bolster MacArthur's case. Instead, it ignited a political firestorm and demands for his removal. Six days after Martin read the letter on the House floor, Truman dismissed MacArthur.[8]
Despite the unintended outcome, Martin and MacArthur remained friends. Martin invited the general to deliver what became known popularly as the "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech before a joint meeting of Congress following his dismissal. In 1952, Martin urged MacArthur to seek the Republican presidential nomination. MacArthur, however, favoredU.S. SenatorRobert A. Taft, ofOhio, who lost the nomination to Willkie in 1940, to Dewey in 1948, and to Eisenhower in 1952. Eisenhower then defeatedGovernorAdlai E. Stevenson II ofIllinois.
In his capacity as leader of the House Republicans, Martin presided over theRepublican National Convention on five occasions between 1940 and 1956. In 1940, he was instrumental in the choice of Senate Minority LeaderCharles L. McNary of Oregon asWendell Willkie's running mate. Martin's most controversial role was at the1952 Republican National Convention, when several of his rulings were seen as tilting the nomination to Eisenhower over Taft.
In preparation for the 1952 elections, Martin traveled toHot Springs,Arkansas, for a regional Republican meeting called by the state party chairmanOsro Cobb, a former member of theArkansas House of Representatives, to unveil a potential strategy to make the party competitive in theAmerican South. "We came away from the meeting more determined and better prepared to advance the two-party system in the South," recalled Cobb in his memoirs, as the Republicans won at the presidential level that year inTennessee,Texas,Florida, andVirginia.[9]
Martin was in the Speaker's chair presiding over the House on March 1, 1954, whenfour Puerto Rican independence activists opened fire on the House, wounding five Representatives. Martin declared the House in recess as he sought cover behind a marble pillar on the rostrum.[10]Martin would be the last Republican to serve as Speaker of the House until the election ofNewt Gingrich ofGeorgia 40 years later.[11] Martin remained the leader of the House Republicans until1958, when the party experienced heavy losses in that year's elections. In the aftermath, Martin was ousted from the leadership by his deputy,Charles A. Halleck.
Despite the defeat, Martin chose to remain as a backbench member of the House. Eight years later, in 1966, he was ousted from his seat in the Republican primary by a moreliberal Republican,Margaret Heckler, who was 46 years his junior. He was also one of seven Speakers to serve more than one non-consecutive term and the second Republican to do so. Martin voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[12][13]1960,[14][15] and1964,[16][17] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[18] Martin voted in favor of the House amendment to theVoting Rights Act of 1965 on July 9, 1965,[19] but did not vote on thejointconference committeereport on August 3, 1965.[20]
A lifelong bachelor, Martin never married.
Martin died inHollywood,Florida, on March 6, 1968. He was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery inNorth Attleborough, Massachusetts.
Today in his hometown of North Attleborough, the Joseph W. Martin Jr. Elementary School bears his name, as does the Joseph W. Martin Institute for Law and Society which houses his personal archives. The Martin Institute is located atStonehill College inNorth Easton, Massachusetts.
In 2007, the North Attleborough High School Alumni Association established the Joseph W. Martin Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award to recognize the outstanding professional and civic achievements of the men and women who are former students of North Attleborough High School.
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 15th congressional district 1925–1933 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 14th congressional district 1933–1963 | Constituency abolished |
| Preceded by | House Minority Leader 1939–1947 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | House Minority Leader 1949–1953 | |
| House Minority Leader 1955–1959 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMassachusetts's 10th congressional district 1963–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | House Republican Leader 1939–1959 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theRepublican National Committee 1940–1942 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Speaker of the United States House of Representatives 1947–1949 | Succeeded by |
| Speaker of the United States House of Representatives 1953–1955 | ||
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