Joseph V. McKee
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Vincent McKee, Sr. (August 8, 1889January 28, 1956) was a teacher at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, New York, who later became a politically active Democrat and briefly served as the acting mayor of New York City.


Life and career

McKee was born on August 8, 1889. He married Cornelia Kraft on November 27, 1918. He was a member of the New York State Assembly (Bronx Co., 7th D.) in 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1923. McKee was a municipal judge from 1924 to 1926. In 1926, he was elected president of the New York City Board of Aldermen on the ticket with James J. Walker for mayor. McKee became acting mayor of New York City after the resignation of Mayor Walker on September 1, 1932. Walker, who resigned amid scandal and the threat of a criminal indictment, subsequently fled to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
until the danger of prosecution appeared remote. McKee, who was sometimes mockingly referred to as "Holy Joe", running as a write-in candidate, lost a special election to John P. O'Brien in November 1932 to fill out the rest of Walker's unexpired term as mayor. His four-month term as acting mayor of New York City ended on December 31, 1932. In November 1933, McKee ran for mayor as the Recovery Party candidate against Democratic Mayor John P. O'Brien and Republican-City Fusion Party candidate Fiorello La Guardia, but lost to La Guardia. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1932, 1936, 1940, and 1944. McKee died in 1956, following a heart attack. He was buried at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. Gate of Heaven Cemetery is also the final resting place of his mayoral predecessor, Walker, and successor, O'Brien.


See also

* List of mayors of New York City


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Joseph V. 1889 births 1956 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in New York (state) Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Mayors of New York City Catholics from New York (state) Politicians from the Bronx