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David I. Walsh - Citizen Patriot. David Ignatius Walsh was the first Catholic and first Democrat to become Governor of and Senator for Massachusetts, U.S.A. On the one hand he overcame prejudice, poverty and bigotry to reach the top and on the other, if you believe the stories, it was "sex, spies and videotape" that got him there? He was a Lawyer by profession, first practicing in Fitchburg from 1897 and later in Boston. He never married.
Born in Leominster, Massachusetts on 11 November 1872, the ninth of ten children, his father was from Mallow, Co. Cork and his mother - Bridget Donnelly, was born in Knockcroghery, Co. Roscommon in 1834. She left for America when she was just 16 years old. After her husband, a comb maker, died (ca. 1884) she ran a Boarding House. Her son David graduated from Clinton High School in 1890 and from Holy Cross in 1893. He attended Boston University Law School, where he graduated in 1897.
Walsh was a member of the
Massachusetts State House of Representatives in 1900 / 1901,
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1913 and
Above: "Walsh" political pin badge.
Because of his Roscommon roots we are happy to include David I. Walsh here! If you have any further information, publications, documents or ephemera relating to him, please contact us.
"David I Walsh - Citizen Patriot" by Dorothy G. Wyman. (The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee 1952) and "Sex, Spies, and Videotape - Outing the Senator" by David O'Toole. (Self-published in the USA in 2005).
U.S. Senate free-frank envelope from 1921 with printed David I. Walsh / U.S.S. as the stamp.
Other books and articles about Senator David I. Walsh: Memories of a Senator: The Honorable David I. Walsh by Edward B. Hanify. n.p. n.d. The Disillusionment of a Progressive: U.S. Senator David I. Walsh and the League of Nations Issue 1918-1920 by John H. Flannagan Jr. in New England Quarterly 41 (December 1968): pp 483-504.
My sincere thanks to Gearóid O'Brien for the books and information about Walsh's mother and to www.wikipedia.com for the biographical information. If you have any further information, publications, documents or ephemera relating to this individual, please contact us. BACK TO PEOPLE PAGE BACK TO WEBSITE HOMEPAGE CONTACT US |
Governor in
1914 / 1915. He was the delegate-at-large to the Massachusetts
Constitutional Convention in 1917 and 1918 and was first elected to
the Senate from 4 March 1919 to 3 March 1925. He was unsuccessful
for re-election in 1924 and resumed his legal practice in Boston
until he was again elected on 2 November 1926 to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Henry Cabot Lodge. He took his seat on 6
December 1926, was re-elected in 1928, 1934 and 1940 and served
until his term ending on 3 January 1947. During his time in the
Senate he served as Chairman of the Committee on Education & Labour
and also served on the Committee on Naval Affairs. He retired from
politics after an unsuccessful attempt at re-election in 1946 and
lived in Clinton, Massachusetts until his death in Boston on 11 June
1947. He was interred in St. John's Cemetery in Clinton. A bronze
statue was erected on Boston's Charles River Esplanade in 1954. It
bears the motto: "non sibi sed patriae", a tribute to his service to
the U.S. Navy while in the Senate.
