FITZGERALD, John Francis, (grandfather of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, great–grandfather of Joseph Patrick Kennedy, II, grandfather of Edward Moore Kennedy, great–grandfather of Patrick Joseph Kennedy, grandfather of Robert Francis Kennedy), A Representative from Massachusetts; born in Boston, Mass., February 11, 1863; was graduated from the Eliot Grammar School and from the Boston Latin School; attended Harvard Medical School for one year; held a position in the Boston customhouse from 1886 to 1891; member of the Boston Common Council in 1892; member of the State senate in 1893 and 1894; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, and Fifty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1895-March 3, 1901); was not a candidate for renomination in 1900; mayor of Boston in 1906, 1907, and 1910-1914; engaged in the insurance and investment business; also owner of a weekly newspaper; chairman of the Massachusetts delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1912; unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1916; presented credentials as a Democratic Member-elect to the Sixty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1919, until October 23, 1919, when he was succeeded by Peter F. Tague, who contested his election; resumed his newspaper activities and also engaged as an investment banker; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1922; member of the Port of Boston Authority 1934-1948; died in Boston, Mass., October 2, 1950; interment in St. Joseph's Cemetery, West Roxbury, Boston, Mass.
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
[ Top ]Fitzgerald, John Francis. Letters and Speeches of the Honorable John F. Fitzgerald, Mayor of Boston, 1906-07, 1910-13. Boston: Printing department, 1914.
Fraser, James W. "Mayor John F. Fitzgerald and Boston's Schools, 1905-1913." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 12 (June 1984): 117-30.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
Meyer, Howard N. "How J.F.K.'s Grandfather Fought the Grandfather Clause." Negro History Bulletin 27 (November 1963): 27.
Russell, Francis. "Honey Fitz." American Heritage 19 (August 1968): 28-31+.
------. "John The Bold: Boston's John F.'Honey Fitz' Fitzgerald." In The Knave of Boston and Other Ambiguous Massachusetts Characters, pp. 21-45. Boston: Quinlan Press, 1987.
Tague, Peter F. Contested-election Case of Peter F. Tague v. John F. Fitzgerald from the Tenth Congressional District of Massachusetts. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919.
