Michael Aloysius Feighan (February 16, 1905 – March 19, 1992) was an American
politician
A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
from
Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Greater Cleveland, Cleveland metropolitan area. The popula ...
, near
Cleveland
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
. He served as a member of the
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met in ...
, and as a
Democratic Party U.S. Representative from 1943 to 1971, serving
Ohio's 20th congressional district
The 20th Ohio Congressional Districts, congressional district of Ohio was created after the 1840 United States Census, census. It was eliminated in the redistricting following the 1990 census, and redistricted and renumbered as the Ohio's 10th c ...
.
Originally, he was recruited by national Democrats who wanted to replace Congressman
Martin L. Sweeney (D-OH), who had for eleven years held the seat representing the west side of Cleveland. They considered Sweeney to be too isolationist; for example, he had argued against enacting
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (),3,000 Hurricanes and >4,000 other aircraft)
* 28 naval vessels:
** 1 Battleship. (HMS Royal Sovereign (05), HMS Royal Sovereign)
* ...
to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
After Feighan had served almost three decades in the House of Representatives, some local Democratic officials, led by
Cleveland City Council
Cleveland City Council is the legislature, legislative branch of Local government in the United States, government for the Cleveland, City of Cleveland, Ohio. Its chambers are located at Cleveland City Hall at 601 Lakeside Avenue, across the str ...
President
James V. Stanton, had grown tired of his leadership. Sensing that they could not beat Feighan in one election, they set up a
stalking horse
A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge on behalf of a third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the third party can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk of failure. If the con ...
running a
Michael A. Sweeney
Michael A. Sweeney was an American lawyer and politician from Cleveland, Ohio who served five terms in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1957 to 1966 (the 102-106th Ohio legislatures) as a Democrat from Cuyahoga County. (He is not to be conf ...
, a local lawyer with a good political name. Sweeney lost, but his vote total showed that Feighan could be vulnerable in a rematch. Four years later, in 1970, Stanton himself ran and defeated Feighan in the Democratic primary, concluding Feighan's political career.
During the legislation of the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, was a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The ...
Feighan insisted that "family unification" should take priority in immigration policy over "employability", on the premise that such a weighting would maintain the existing ethnic profile of the country. That change instead resulted in
chain migration
Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country.
John S. MacDon ...
dominating the subsequent patterns of immigration to the United States and consequently a more ethnically diverse population.
Electoral history
See also
References
External links
Michael Feighan Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feighan, Michael A.
1905 births
1992 deaths
Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Princeton University alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Politicians from Cleveland
Politicians from Lakewood, Ohio
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio
20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly
Chairs of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee