Senator David I. Walsh, ca. 1940

David I. Walsh was Massachusetts in 1872, the son of Irish-Catholic immigrants. He graduated from Boston University Law School in 1897 and was admitted to the state bar that year. Walsh served two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1900-1901, but his vote in favor of restricting work hours for women and children led people to vote him out of office. In 1912, he was election lieutenant governor of Massachusettes, and in 1914, he became the first Irish and first Catholic governor of the state. In 1918, Walsh was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, and served until 1925, when he failed to win re-election. A year and a half later, however, he was elected to fill the vacancy left by the death of Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (R-Mass.), and remained a member of the Senate until 1947, when he once again failed to retain his seat in the 1946 election. During the New Deal era, Walsh served on the Committee on Education and Labor and on the Committee on Naval Affairs. Walsh returned to his native Massachusetts, and died June 11, 1947 in Boston.

For more information on this particular item, visit the document page for Minutes from Continuing Committee Meeting, April 23, 1935.

This item is a part of the Catholics and Social Security: The National Conference of Catholic Charities and the Social Security Act of 1935 section.

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Harris and Ewing

Library of Congress Public Domain Photographs [LC-H25- 321112-A]

ca. 1940

Library of Congress Harris and Ewing Collection