John F. Fitzgerald
John F. Fitzgerald | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 9th district | |
In office 1895–1901 | |
Preceded by | Joseph H. O'Neil |
Succeeded by | Joseph A. Conry |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 10th district | |
In office March 4, 1919 – October 23, 1919 | |
Preceded by | Peter Tague |
Succeeded by | Peter Tague |
Mayor of Boston | |
In office 1906–1908 | |
Preceded by | Daniel A. Whelton |
Succeeded by | George A. Hibbard |
In office 1910–1914 | |
Preceded by | George A. Hibbard |
Succeeded by | James M. Curley |
Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 3rd Suffolk district | |
In office 1892–1894 | |
Boston Common Council Ward 6 | |
In office 1891–1892 | |
Personal details | |
Born | John Francis Fitzgerald February 11, 1863 Boston, Massachusetts |
Died | October 2, 1950 Boston, Massachusetts | (aged 87)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Mary Josephine Hannon |
Children | Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald Mary Agnes Fitzgerald Thomas Acton Fitzgerald John Francis Fitzgerald, Jr. Eunice Fitzgerald Frederick Hannon Fitzgerald |
Alma mater | Boston College, Boston Latin School |
John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American politician, husband of Mary Josephine Hannon, father of Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald, father-in-law of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr. and maternal grandfather of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Rose Marie Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, Eunice Mary Kennedy, Patricia Helen Kennedy, Robert Francis Kennedy, Jean Ann Kennedy, and Edward Moore Kennedy.
Early life and family
Fitzgerald was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Irish immigrants, Thomas Fitzgerald of County Limerick and Rosanna Cox of County Cavan. He was the fourth of twelve children; of his siblings, both sisters died in infancy, as did his eldest brother. Honey Fitz's brother Joseph had severe brain damage from malaria and barely functioned. Only three survived in good health and after John's mother died when he was sixteen, his father wished for him to become a doctor to help prevent future tragedies of the sort that had marred the Fitzgerald family.
Accordingly, after being educated at Boston Latin School and Boston College,[1][2] he enrolled at Harvard Medical School for one year, but withdrew following the death of his father in 1885.[3] Fitzgerald later became a clerk at the Customs House in Boston and was active in the local Democratic Party.
Fitzgerald was a member of the Royal Rooters, an early supporters' club for Boston's baseball teams, particularly its American League team, the modern Boston Red Sox. At one point, he was the group's chairman, and threw out the ceremonial opening pitch in Fenway Park's inaugural game (April 20, 1912), as well as in the 1912 World Series later that year. His great-granddaughter Caroline Kennedy threw out the first pitch for Fenway Park's 100th anniversary on April 20, 2012.[4]
Marriage
On September 18, 1889, Fitzgerald married Mary Josephine Hannon, his second cousin. She was a daughter of Michael Hannon and Mary Ann Fitzgerald.[5]
Children
Name | Birth | Death | Age | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald | July 22, 1890 | January 22, 1995 | 104 years | Married on October 7, 1914, to Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr.; had nine children: Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Jr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Rose Marie Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, Eunice Mary Kennedy, Patricia Helen Kennedy, Robert Francis Kennedy, Jean Ann Kennedy, and Edward Moore Kennedy. |
Mary Agnes Fitzgerald | November 1, 1892 | September 17, 1936 | 43 years | Married on April 29, 1929, to Joseph F. Gargan, Sr.; had three children: Joseph F. Gargan, Jr. and two younger daughters, Mary Jo Gargan and Ann Gargan. |
Thomas Acton Fitzgerald | April 19, 1895 | September 1968 | 73 years | Married on September 7, 1921, to Marion D. Reardon (died February 7, 1925); had one daughter: Marion Eunice Fitzgerald. Married again on October 11, 1930, to Margaret Bernice Fitzpatrick; had two children: Barbara Ann Fitzgerald and Thomas Acton Fitzgerald, Jr.. |
John Francis Fitzgerald, Jr. | December 7, 1897 | April 1979 | 81 years | Married on April 28, 1928, to Catherine O'Hearn; had three sons: John Francis Fitzgerald III, Robert P. Fitzgerald, and Fred Fitzgerald. |
Eunice Fitzgerald | January 26, 1900 | September 25, 1923 | 23 years | Never married or had children |
Frederick Hannon Fitzgerald | December 3, 1904 | February 1935 | 30 years | Married on October 26, 1929, to Rosalind Miller; had one son: Frederick Hannon Fitzgerald, Jr.. |
Political life
Fitzgerald was elected to Boston's Common Council in 1891. In 1892, he became a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and in 1894, he was elected to Congress for the 9th district, serving from 1895 to 1901. In 1906, Fitzgerald was elected Mayor of Boston, becoming the first American-born Irish-Catholic to be elected to that office. Fitzgerald served as mayor of Boston from 1906 to 1908, was defeated for re-election, but returned to the office again from 1910 to 1914.
Of his stylish manner, Robert Dallek wrote: "He was a natural politician—a charming, impish, affable lover of people..... His warmth of character earned him yet another nickname, "Honey Fitz," and he gained a reputation as the only politician who could sing "Sweet Adeline" sober and get away with it. A pixie-like character with florid face, bright eyes, and sandy hair, he was a showman who could have had a career in vaudeville. But politics, with all the brokering that went into arranging alliances and the hoopla that went into campaigning, was his calling. A verse of the day ran: 'Honey Fitz can talk you blind / on any subject you can find / Fish and fishing, motor boats / Railroads, streetcars, getting votes.' His gift of gab became known as Fitzblarney, and his followers as "dearos," a shortened version of his description of his district as 'the dear old North End.'" [6]
Early in his first term as Boston's mayor, Fitzgerald formulated a plan to revitalize the commercial importance of the city. Using the slogan "A bigger, busier and better Boston", Fitzgerald was able to persuade business and the Massachusetts legislature to invest $9 million for improvements to the port by 1912. Within a year, the investments began to pay off in the form of new port traffic to and from Europe.[7]
He was for years the most prominent political figure in the city of Boston, where Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy was a more behind-the-scenes Democratic Party figure. P. J. opposed Honey Fitz when the latter first ran for mayor, but they later became allies. In 1914, these two powerful political families (Kennedy and Fitzgerald) were united when P. J.'s elder son Joe married Fitzgerald's eldest daughter Rose.
From March 4, 1919, to October 23, 1919, he again served in Congress, now for the 10th district, until Peter F. Tague successfully contested the election. Fitzgerald was an unsuccessful candidate for the offices of Senator in 1916 and Governor in 1922. His opponent for the Senate was Henry Cabot Lodge In his later years, Fitzgerald focused on his business interests and on honing the political instincts of his daughter Rose's promising sons. In 1946, when John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy decided to run for Congress, 83-year-old "Honey Fitz" helped him plan his campaign strategy. At the victory celebration, Fitzgerald danced an Irish jig, sang "Sweet Adeline," and predicted that his grandson would someday occupy the White House. Shortly after his election to the presidency, Jack renamed the presidential yacht the Honey Fitz in honor of his maternal grandfather.
On October 2, 1950, Fitzgerald died in Boston at the age of eighty-seven. His funeral was one of the largest in the city's history. President Harry S. Truman sent his sympathies and Fitzgerald's pallbearers included U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge II, U.S. Senator Leverett Saltonstall (the grandson of the man who had given "Honey Fitz" his first job), U.S. Speaker of the House John McCormack, Massachusetts Speaker of the House Thomas Phillip O'Neill, Jr., and former Boston Mayor and Massachusetts Governor James Michael Curley. As "Honey Fitz" was carried to his final rest from Holy Cross Cathedral to St. Joseph's Cemetery in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, a crowd of thousands who had gathered along the streets sang "Sweet Adeline". Interestingly, in 1952, Jack defeated Lodge's grandson Henry Cabot Lodge II for the same seat. Furthermore, in 1960, Lodge, Jr. was the unsuccessful U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket, which lost to and Lyndon B. Johnson and Jack.
The official name for the Central Artery highway in Boston was The John F. Fitzgerald Expressway, until it was torn down in the 1990s as part of Boston's "Big Dig" project which eliminated the Central Artery and replaced it with a tunnel. The resulting greenway above the tunnel where the expressway had been was named for Fitzgerald's daughter as the "Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway".
References
- ^ http://www.readersread.com/excerpts/unfinishedlifejohnfkennedy.htm
- ^ http://www.archive.org/stream/lettersspeecheso00fitz/lettersspeecheso00fitz_djvu.txt
- ^ McGoldrick, Monica. You Can Go Home Again: Reconnecting with Your Family, p. 155. W. W. Norton & Company, 1995, ISBN 0-393-31650-5.
- ^ Boston Herald
- ^ Goodwin, Doris Kearns (2001). The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga. Simon and Schuster. pp.88-89.
- ^ http://www.twbookmark.com/books/4/0316172383/chapter_excerpt17081.html
- ^ Fitzgerald, John F. (1914). Letters and speeches of the Honorable John F. Fitzgerald: mayor of Boston. City of Boston. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
External links
- United States Congress. "John F. Fitzgerald (id: F000164)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- John F. Fitzgerald at Find a Grave
- JFK cousins
- 1863 births
- 1950 deaths
- American Roman Catholics
- Boston Latin School alumni
- Harvard Medical School alumni
- American people of Irish descent
- County Cavan
- People from County Limerick
- People from North End, Boston
- Massachusetts Democrats
- Mayors of Boston, Massachusetts
- Boston city councillors
- Massachusetts State Senators
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts
- Boston College alumni