John J. Rooney

Moshe Sharett (second from left), Israel's Foreign Minister, with Congress members: Ruth Thompson, Francis Walter, and John J. Rooney. October, 1955

Rooney's photo from 1959's Pocket Congressional Directory.

John James Rooney (November 29, 1903 – October 26, 1975) was a Democratic politician from New York.

Rooney was born in Brooklyn in 1903. In 1925, he graduated with a law degree from Fordham University and practiced law following his admission to the bar the next year. He subsequently served as assistant district attorney in Brooklyn, New York, from 1940 to 1944.

In 1944, Rooney was elected by special election to the 78th United States Congress, to fill the vacancy left after the death of Thomas H. Cullen. He was re-elected in each subsequent election until opting to retire after the 1974 midterm election. He resigned from his seat on December 31, 1974, a few days before his term was to expire.

He was once called a "frank torchbearer for the so-called Catholic lobby", for his support of American aid to Francisco Franco's regime in Spain.^[1]

Rooney died on October 26, 1975 in Washington, D.C.

References

1. "Kennedy Would Resist Any Catholic Pressure", Drew Pearson (The Bell Syndicate), as printed in the Poughkeepsie Journal, 7 July 1960, p. 6. Newspapers.com

External links

• United States Congress. "John J. Rooney (id: R000424)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• John J. Rooney at Find a Grave