James A. Gallagher (January 16, 1869 – December 8, 1957) was an American banker, businessman, and Republican member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Early life

James A. Gallagher was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on January 16, 1869. He attended the public schools and Philadelphia's Pierce College from 1891 to 1893. Professionally, he began work in merchandise warehousing and transportation in 1886, and later worked in the banking industry.

Congress

Gallagher was elected to Congress as a Republican in November of 1942, defeating three-term Democratic incumbent

Leon Sacks Leon Sacks (October 7, 1902 – March 11, 1972) was an American lawyer and politician who served three terms as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania from 1937 to 1943. Early life Leon Sacks was born in Phil ...

. In 1944, he lost his re-election bid to Democrat

William A. Barrett William Aloysius Barrett (August 14, 1896 – April 12, 1976) was an American lawyer, politician, and member of the Democratic Party who served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's South Philadelphia-ba ...

, who rode to victory on the coattails of the very popular

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

. Two years later, Gallagher returned to

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

during the Republican sweep of Congress in 1946, but would lose renomination in

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

to Republican John De Nero, who went on to lose to Barrett in November, 53-47%. Barrett went on to represent Philadelphia in Congress for 26 more years until his death in 1976. As a Congressman, Gallagher had a generally conservative voting record, voting with the Republican Party in 89 and 86 percent of his votes in the 78th and 80th Congresses, respectively. Some of Gallagher's most important votes included voting present on the 1944

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

, voting for the Taft-Hartley Act, and voting to amend the United States Constitution to establish term limits. All three bills passed. Gallagher also supported strengthening the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. U.S. federal law names six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the Coast Guard. Since 1949, all of the armed forces, except th ...

during the opening stages of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and reducing

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

. Additionally, he also had a pro-civil rights voting record, voting for an anti-poll tax bill in 1947. During his tenures, Gallagher served on three committees - the

Census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

Pensions A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "defined benefit plan", wher ...

, and

Printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

committees during his first term, and the

House Administration Committee The United States House Committee on House Administration deals with the general administration matters of the United States House of Representatives, the security of the United States Capitol, and federal elections. History The Committee on Ho ...

during his second. Gallagher cast 182 total votes during his congressional career, 89 in his first term and 93 in his second. He missed 16 percent of roll call votes, significantly worse than the average of 3.5 percent.

Death

After losing his congressional primary in 1948, Gallagher returned to private life in Philadelphia. He died on December 8, 1957, at age 88. He was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in

Yeadon, Pennsylvania Yeadon is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders the city of Philadelphia. The population was 11,443 at the 2010 census. Geography Yeadon is located in eastern Delaware County at (39.932862, -75.251540). It is bor ...

Electoral history

, + Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district: Results 1942-1946 ! Year ! ! Subject ! Party ! Votes ! % ! ! Opponent ! Party ! Votes ! % , - ,

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

, , , , James A. Gallagher , , Republican , , 44,519 , , 53.45 , , , ,

(inc.) , , Democratic , , 38,768 , , 46.55 , - ,

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

, , , , James A. Gallagher (inc.) , , Republican , , 52,159 , , 41.58 , , ,

, , Democratic , , 73,289 , , 58.42 , - ,

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, , , , James A. Gallagher , , Republican , , 70,680 , , 57.34 , , , William A. Barrett (inc.) , , Democratic , , 52,593 , , 42.66

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, James A. 1869 births 1957 deaths Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Yeadon, Pennsylvania) Politicians from Philadelphia Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives