Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro Jr. (August 1, 1903 – August 23, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 39th

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

from 1947 to 1959. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1939 until 1947. He was known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the D'Alesandro

political family A political family (also referred to as political dynasty) is a family in which multiple members are involved in politics — particularly electoral politics. Members may be related by blood or marriage; often several generations or multiple si ...

, which includes

Thomas D'Alesandro III Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro III (July 24, 1929 – October 20, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the president of the Balti ...

, the 43rd mayor of Baltimore; and

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

, the 52nd

speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the ...

Early life

D'Alesandro was born in Baltimore on August 1, 1903. He was the son of Maria Antonia Petronilla (née Foppiani) and Tommaso F. D'Alessandro. His father was born in

Montenerodomo Montenerodomo is a ''comune'' and town in the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The remote mountain hill town lies within the Maiella National Park. Montenerodomo is the birthplace of Tommaso F. D'Alessandro, father of former Bal ...

Abruzzo , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1 ...

, Italy, and his mother was born in Baltimore, to parents from

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

, Italy. D'Alesandro attended Calvert Business College in Baltimore. Before beginning his political career, he worked as an insurance and real estate broker.

Career

D'Alesandro served as a member of the Maryland State House of Delegates from 1926 to 1933. After serving in

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

, D'Alesandro was then appointed as General Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue, a post in which he served during 1933–1934. He then was elected to serve on the

Baltimore City Council The Baltimore City Council is the legislative branch that governs the City of Baltimore and its more than 600,000 citizens. It has 14 members elected by district and a president elected at-large; all serve four-year terms. The Council holds regu ...

from 1935 to 1938. D'Alesandro was then elected to the

76th Congress The 76th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1939, ...

and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1939, until he resigned on May 16, 1947. While in Congress, D'Alesandro strongly supported the

Bergson Group Hillel Kook ( he, הלל קוק, 24 July 1915 –18 August 2001), also known as Peter Bergson (Hebrew: פיטר ברגסון), was a Revisionist Zionist activist and politician. Kook led the Irgun's efforts in the United States during World ...

, a " political action committee set up to challenge the Roosevelt Administration's policies on the Jewish refugee issue during the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, and later lobbied against British control of Palestine" despite his equally strong support for Roosevelt's other policies. Following his service in Congress he was the Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years from May 1947 to May 1959. D'Alesandro served on the Federal Renegotiation Board from 1961 to 1969 after being appointed by President John F. Kennedy. On September 21, 1966, President Lyndon Baines Johnson's assistant Mildred Stegall requested a routine FBI name check on D'Alesandro. FBI records released on January 6, 2021 showed D'Alesandro had been the subject of a Special Inquiry investigation in March and April 1961, revealing numerous unsubstantiated allegations of association with criminals in Baltimore.

Political campaigns

D'Alesandro was a strong contender for

Governor of Maryland The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, but dropped out after being implicated in receiving undeclared money from Dominic Piracci, a parking garage owner convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Piracci was the father of Margie Piracci D'Alesandro, the wife of D'Alesandro's oldest son and namesake

. Mayor D'Alesandro was later exonerated and never indicted. After withdrawing, D'Alesandro tacitly supported

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

President

Curley Byrd Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd (February 12, 1889 – October 2, 1970) was an American university administrator, educator, athlete, coach, and politician. Byrd began a long association with the University of Maryland as an undergraduate in 1905, and ...

, who lost, 54.5% to 45.5%, to

Theodore McKeldin Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin (November 20, 1900August 10, 1974) was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party, served as mayor of Baltimore twice, from 1943 to 1947 and again from 1963 to 1967. McKeldin was the 53rd Governor ...

, the Republican incumbent and D'Alesandro's predecessor as Mayor of Baltimore. In 1958, D'Alesandro ran for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

in a bid to defeat

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent

J. Glenn Beall James Glenn Beall (June 5, 1894 – January 14, 1971) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. Senator (1953–1965) from Maryland. Early ...

. D'Alesandro first had to spend money and time defeating perennial candidate/contractor George P. Mahoney in the Democratic primary. D'Alesandro then ran a strong campaign, losing to Beall in close election, the first time D'Alesandro had ever lost. In 1959, D'Alesandro was defeated in a bid for another term for Mayor of Baltimore by

J. Harold Grady Joseph Harold Grady (February 27, 1917 – January 9, 2002) was a judge and the mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1959 to 1962. Prior to running for mayor, he was an FBI agent and state's attorney In the United States, a district attorney ...

Retrospective analysis

In 2017, in an effort to counter D'Alesandro's daughter Nancy's efforts to remove statues of confederate figures from the halls of Congress,

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

commentators noted that in 1948, D'Alesandro dedicated the

Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument The Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument, often referred to simply as the Jackson and Lee Monument or Lee and Jackson Monument, was a double equestrian statue of Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee, formerly located ...

in his capacity as Mayor of Baltimore, along with the then-Governor of Maryland,

William Preston Lane Jr. William Preston Lane Jr. (May 12, 1892 – February 7, 1967) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 52nd Governor of Maryland from 1947 to 1951. Early life and education Lane was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on May 12, 1892, ...

His son,

, who later served as Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971, said about his father "His whole life was politics. He was not what you would call a flaming liberal, but he was a progressive."

Personal life

D'Alesandro was married to Annunciata M. ("Nancy") Lombardi (1909-1995). Together, the couple had six children, five sons and a daughter: * Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro III (1929–2019), attorney and politician who served as the

mayor of Baltimore The mayor of Baltimore is the head of the executive branch of the government of the City of Baltimore, Maryland. The Mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills, ordinances, or resolutions passed by the ...

from 1967 to 1971. * Nicholas M. D'Alesandro (1930–1934) * Franklin Delano Roosevelt D'Alesandro (1933–2007), who also served in the U.S. Army. * Hector Joseph D'Alesandro (1935–1995) * Joseph Thomas D'Alesandro (1937–2004) * Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born 1940), politician who served as the

speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...

from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023; she is the first woman elected Speaker and the first woman in American history to lead a major political party in either chamber of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. Two month after being present at Nancy's swearing in as a congresswoman, D'Alesandro died on August 23, 1987, in Baltimore, Maryland.

References

External links

Biography
Provided by the Baltimore City Government * *
Thomas D' Alesandro Jr. FBI Files
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:DAlesandro, Thomas Jr. 1903 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American politicians American politicians of Italian descent American Roman Catholics Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland Italian-American culture in Baltimore Mayors of Baltimore Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Pelosi family