Paul W. Cronin
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Paul William Cronin (March 14, 1938 – April 5, 1997) was a one-term congressman of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Cronin was born in
Boston, Massachusetts 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 ...
, on March 14, 1938, and graduated from
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
in 1962 and the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1969. He was elected as an
Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was Settler, settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed. ...
selectman at the age of 24, was later elected as a member of 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 1967 to 1969. Before his election to Congress, he also served as a member of Rep. F. Bradford Morse's Congressional Staff, and as a delegate to Republican National Conventions in both 1968 and 1972. In 1972, he was elected as a Republican to the Ninety-third Congress, defeating future US Senator and Presidential candidate
John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...
, who had moved to the Fifth District to seek the seat after Rep. Morse resigned to take a post at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Cronin's victory was a huge upset against the
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
candidate Kerry. He had trailed at one point by more than 20%, and his victory was often accredited to harsh attacks by ''
The Lowell Sun ''The Sun'', also known as ''The Lowell Sun'', is a daily newspaper based in Lowell, Massachusetts, Lowell, Massachusetts, United States, serving towns in Massachusetts around the Greater Lowell area and beyond. As of 2011, its average daily cir ...
'', which attacked Kerry for being an elitist
carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were pe ...
and for his questioning of the
patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...
of those who supported the war. In the House, Cronin served on the Interior Committee, and began a process that led ultimately to the creation, years later, of an urban park in Lowell. A businessman and non-ideologue at heart, Cronin placed himself in the moderate wing of his party. In 1974, his first bid for re-election, Cronin faced an assertive challenge from a Lowell-based county commissioner
Paul Tsongas Paul Efthemios Tsongas ( ; February 14, 1941 – January 18, 1997) was an American politician who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1979 until 1985 and in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 until 1 ...
, who seized on President Nixon's impeachment troubles in what turned out to be a bad year, electorally, for Republicans nationwide. Tsongas demanded that Cronin release his income tax returns, but the congressman declined; Cronin also declined to debate Tsongas. Tsongas also made political hay over the failure of a technology firm, Mostek, to locate a facility in Lowell after Cronin had promised the firm would do so. A memorable Tsongas radio ad featured echoing footsteps in an empty building. In the November election, Tsongas won 61% of the vote—and went on to become a US Senator and a candidate for President of the United States in 1992. Cronin later in life would serve a number of positions at Massachusetts Port Authority, and he unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for governor against William Weld. In 1992, Cronin won the Republican nomination to regain his old seat against a weak incumbent Chester G. Atkins. However, Atkins, who had been caught up in the House check-kiting scandal, would be defeated in the primary by an up-and-coming Democratic star, Martin T. Meehan, who in turn would defeat Cronin in the General Election 52% to 38%. Cronin died on April 5, 1997, from a brain tumor at
Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...
in Boston, Massachusetts, and was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Andover.


References

Source: {{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Paul William 1938 births 1997 deaths Boston University alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts Massachusetts Port Authority people United States congressional aides Politicians from Boston 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court