Talk:Hugh De Lacy (politician)

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Hugh DeLacy (born Emerson Hugh DeLacy) was born May 9, 1910, in Seattle. His parents, John Byron DeLacy and Abigail Greene, were both teachers. Raised in Seattle, he attended public schools. He attended Queen Anne High School and was valedictorian of his graduating class in 1926. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1932 with a degree in English. Upon graduation, he married his high school sweetheart, Betty Marie Jorgensen. While teaching English at the University of Washington from 1933 to 1937, he helped organize a teacher's union, Local 410 of the American Federation of Teachers, and served as its delegate to the Seattle Central labor Council. In 1937, DeLacy ran for a seat on the Seattle City Council. Denied a leave of absence from the university, DeLacy decided to resign in order to pursue a political career. He won the election and served until 1940. On August 10, 1938, his twin daughters, Marian Elizabeth and Eleanor Abigail, were born.

In the 1940's, DeLacy was active in the Democratic Party and the Washington Commonwealth Federation, a coalition of left-wing political organizations. After war was declared, he went to work as a machinist in the Todd shipyards. On January 5, 1941, his daughter Margaret Irene was born. In 1944 DeLacy ran successfully as a New Deal Democrat for the First District Congressional seat vacated by Warren Magnuson. During the 79th Congress, DeLacy was an outspoken and active member of the left wing of the Democratic Party. He was a member of the Naval Affairs committee and took an interest in labor legislation, public housing, and U.S. foreign policy, particularly in regard to China. His interest and activity was instrumental in the resignation of the China Ambassador Patrick J. Hurley. He took stands against the elimination of price controls and the formation of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, but supported the development of the aluminum and light metals industry in his home state.

DeLacy ran for re-election in 1496 against stiff opposition from business and the Republican Party. Accused of being anti-American and a Communist, DeLacy was defeated in an electoral backlash that swept most of the Democrats from the state's delegation. He and Betty divorced in 1948.

After his defeat, DeLacy worked as an organizer for the Progressive party and Henry Wallace's presidential campaign. The campaign took him to Ohio as the party's state director. DeLacy subsequently made an unsuccessful run for the Ohio state legislature as an independent candidate. While traveling to New York, he met and soon married Hester Sondergaard. In the mid-1950's he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. During this time, DeLacy worked as a carpenter and contractor and continued in this profession after he moved to Los Angeles in 1959. In 1960, DeLacy and Hester Sondergaard divorced and he married Dorothy Baskin Forest.

Following his retirement in 1967, DeLacy began to study philosophy and was admitted to the graduate program in philosophy in San Fernando Valley State College in 1969. He joined the Society for the Philosophical Study of Dialectical Materialism in order to further his study of Marxist and communist theories.

In 1971 Hugh and Dorothy DeLacy relocated to the town of Soquel in Santa Cruz County on the central coast of California, where he lived the last 17 years of his life. In 1975 the DeLacy's were invited by the government of the People's Republic of China to visit that nation, which had interested DeLacy since his first visit as a young merchant seaman. DeLacy remained active in political issues and progressive causes in the Santa Cruz area and continued his interest in international affairs. In 1985 he visited Nicaragua and was there when the newly elected President, Daniel Ortega, was sworn in. On August 19, 1986, DeLacy died of prostate cancer. His ashes are buried in Home of Peace Cemetery on Meder Street in Santa Cruz, California.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, recognizing DeLacy's considerable impact on local community affairs as well as his history of advocating peace and justice nationally and internationally, dedicated a memorial garden in his name on the country courthouse grounds. Because DeLacy was extremely supportive and involved with the Nicaraguan people's struggle for independence, his large collection of wood working tools was shipped to a vocational training school in Nicaragua after his death.

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I'd appreciate it if someone could use this suggestion to expand this article. Raul654 (talk) 18:45, 21 May 2008 (UTC)