Clifford Thomas McAvoy (October 30, 1904 – August 9, 1957) was an American politician and activist with the American Labor Party.

Biography

McAvoy was born in New York, the son of John V. McAvoy, a Justice on the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, and Marian Newcomb. McAvoy's family was influential in New York politics. His grandfather Thomas McAvoy was an ally of

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head Charles F. Murphy and the brother of Francis S. McAvoy. As a child, McAvoy studied violin with the conductor Alexander Bloch. He was involved with the

American Labor Party The American Labor Party (ALP) was a political party in the United States established in 1936 that was active almost exclusively in the state of New York. The organization was founded by labor leaders and former members of the Socialist Party of ...

soon after its founding in 1936.

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unsuccessfully attempted to convince the party to nominate McAvoy as its candidate to succeed Baruch Vladeck in 1938. McAvoy never joined the Communist Party. Nevertheless, he resigned from his position as Deputy Welfare Commissioner in 1941, following accusations of Communist sympathies. He then served as the Washington representative for the

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), is an independent democratic rank-and-file labor union representing workers in both the private and public sectors across the United States. UE was one of the first unions to be ch ...

. He resigned from this position in 1948 in order to support Henry Wallace's campaign, arguing that Truman had "reversed the progressive foreign and domestic policies of FDR". In 1951, McAvoy was the

's candidate for city council president, and received 6.1% of the vote. In 1953 he was the ALP's candidate for mayor of New York and received only 54,000 votes. Following McAvoy's unsuccessful electoral performance,

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resigned from the ALP. In the 1956 election, McAvoy supported the Socialist Workers Party presidential candidates

Farrell Dobbs Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 – October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist, trade unionist, politician, and historian. Early years Dobbs was born in Queen City, Missouri, where his father was a worker in a coal company garage. The family ...

and

Myra Tanner Weiss Myra Tanner Weiss (May 17, 1917 – September 13, 1997) was an American Communist following Trotskyism, and a three time U.S. vice presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Biography Myra Tanner was born in Salt Lake City. Her ...

. McAvoy was the chairman of the Council for Pan-American Democracy. He died of nephritis on August 9, 1957.

Personal life

He married Frances Boardman Chisholm in 1930. They divorced in 1949. He later married Susan B. Anthony II. His third marriage was to Muriel Gravelle, a member of the Progressive Party in New Hampshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcavoy, Clifford T 1904 births 1957 deaths Politicians from New York City Deaths from nephritis American Labor Party politicians Trade unionists from New York (state)