John Joseph Moakley (April 27, 1927 – May 28, 2001) was an American politician who served as the

United States representative 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 ...

for

Massachusetts's 9th congressional district Massachusetts's 9th congressional district is located in eastern Massachusetts. It is represented by Democrat Bill Keating. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+6, it is the least Democratic district in Massachusetts, a state with an al ...

from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent

Louise Day Hicks Anna Louise Day Hicks (October 16, 1916 – October 21, 2003) was an American politician and lawyer from Boston, Massachusetts, best known for her staunch opposition to desegregation in Boston public schools, and especially to court-ordered ...

in a 1972 rematch; the seat had been held two years earlier by the retiring Speaker of the House

John William McCormack John William McCormack (December 21, 1891 – November 22, 1980) was an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts. McCormack served in the United States Army during World War I, and afterwards in the Massachusetts State Senate before winnin ...

. Moakley was the last Democratic chairman of the

U.S. House Committee on Rules The Committee on Rules (or more commonly the Rules Committee) is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is responsible for the rules under which bills will be presented to the House of Representatives, unlike other committ ...

before Republicans took control of the chamber in 1995. He is the namesake of both

Joe Moakley Park South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. It has undergone several demographic transf ...

and the

John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse is a federal courthouse for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, located on Fan Pier on the Boston, Massac ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Early life and education

Moakley was born in

South Boston, Massachusetts South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...

, April 27, 1927, and grew up in the Old Harbor public housing project. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was involved in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...

from 1943 to 1946. After returning home, Moakley attended the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Greater Downtown Miami, Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

from 1950 to 1951, and he received his

LL.B. A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

Suffolk University Law School Suffolk University Law School (also known as Suffolk Law School) is the Private university, private, non-sectarian law school of Suffolk University located in Downtown Boston, downtown Boston, across the street from the Boston Common and the Fr ...

in Boston in 1956.

Career

1953 John Joseph Moakley Massachusetts House of Representatives

In 1958, he partnered with his Suffolk classmate Daniel W. Healy, and together they opened a law practice at 149A Dorchester Street in South Boston. They remained legal partners into the late 1970s. Moakley was a member of the Portuguese American Civic Club located in

Taunton, Massachusetts Taunton is a city in and the county seat of Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Taunton is situated on the Taunton River, which winds its way through the city on its way to Mount Hope Bay, to the south. As of the 2020 United States ...

. Moakley served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

from 1953 to 1963 and in the

Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the st ...

from 1964 to 1970. He was a delegate to the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

. After the retirement of longtime Congressman John W. McCormack, Moakley ran for the Democratic nomination in the Ninth District but lost to Boston School Committee chair

, who gained support based on her opposition to school desegregation. He was a member of the

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year ...

from 1971 to 1973. In 1972, Moakley ran as an independent against Hicks and defeated her by 3,448 votes. Moakley was sworn in to Congress on January 3, 1973, one day after having switched his party affiliation back to the Democratic Party. He was reelected 14 times, never facing substantive opposition. He faced Republican challengers only six times; the other times, he was either completely unopposed or faced only minor-party opposition. In 2002, he posthumously received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his unrelenting commitment to ending the war in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

and throughout

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, and for the compassionate care he gave his constituents in Massachusetts for nearly three decades. He was succeeded in office by fellow Democrat Stephen Lynch.

Opposition to the legislative veto

Moakley was prominent in the opposition to the

legislative veto The legislative veto describes features of at least two different forms of government, monarchies and those based on the separation of powers, applied to the authority of the monarch in the first and to the authority of the legislature in the sec ...

, which became an increasingly popular device in the 1970s. He held up in committee a controversial bill proposed by Rep. Elliott Levitas that proposed to institute the legislative veto as a general feature of legislation. His position was vindicated when the Supreme Court held in '' INS v. Chadha'' (1983) that the legislative veto violated the

bicameralism Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

and presentment clauses of the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

The Moakley Commission

Moakley led a special panel that investigated the 1989 deaths of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. The United States ended its military aid to El Salvador in part because of the Moakley Commission's report implicating several high-ranking Salvadoran military officials in the murders. Moakley had a close relationship with Salvadoran activist

Leonel Gómez Vides Leonel Eugenio Gómez Vides (December 31, 1940 – November 25, 2009) was a Salvadoran political activist. Born into a wealthy family, Gómez worked on land reform issues on behalf of the poor. Following an assassination attempt in 1981, Góm ...

Later career

Joe Moakley chaired the Committee on Rules from the 101st Congress through 103rd Congress. In 1996, Moakley declined an offer to have a new bridge in Boston named in his honor, but accepted the suggestion to have the bridge named for his wife, following her death from cancer. The

Evelyn Moakley Bridge The Evelyn Moakley Bridge is a bridge that crosses Fort Point Channel in Boston, Massachusetts. It connects Downtown Boston to the Seaport District. History Congressional approval for a new bridge to span Boston's Fort Point Channel was granted ...

is next to a U.S. Courthouse, which was subsequently named the

shortly before his death.

in South Boston is also named after him. Moakley's efforts led to the acquisition by

Bridgewater State College Bridgewater State University is a public university with its main campus in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest of nine state universities in Massachusetts. Including its off-campus sites in New Bedford, Attleboro, and ...

(Bridgewater, MA) of a $10 million grant. The grant allowed the construction of the campus fiber network and a new regional telecommunications facility, which dramatically enhanced the teaching capabilities of the region's educational professionals. The John Joseph Moakley Center for Technological Applications in Bridgewater provides training in the use of technology for students, teachers, and members of the workforce. The three-story building houses a large computer lab, a television studio, an auditorium, and numerous classrooms.

Personal life

In 2001, Moakley announced that he would not be running for re-election for his 16th term in 2002, due to his ongoing battle with

myelodysplastic syndrome A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may includ ...

. Moakley died on May 28, 2001, in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...

. His body was interred in Blue Hill Cemetery,

Braintree, Massachusetts Braintree () is a municipality in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is officially known as a town, but Braintree is a city with a mayor-council form of government, and it is considered a city under Massachusetts law. The populat ...

. The

Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act The Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act of 2001 () amends the Public Health Service Act to allocate funding and establish directed research and education programs targeted at forms of blood cancer, in particular leukemia, l ...

, enacted in 2002, established the Joe Moakley Research Excellence Program for expanded and coordinated blood cancer research programs.

References

External links

John Joseph Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University

Congressman John Joseph Moakley Papers

Congressman John Joseph Moakley Oral History Project

The John Joseph Moakley Charitable Foundation

at about.com
John Joseph Moakley Center
at

. * * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Moakley, John Joseph 1927 births 2001 deaths Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome United States Navy personnel of World War II Boston City Council members Massachusetts independents Massachusetts state senators Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Suffolk University Law School alumni Deaths from leukemia in Maryland University of Miami alumni Massachusetts lawyers Military personnel from Massachusetts Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts People from South Boston 20th-century American lawyers South Boston High School alumni 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court