1955–1956 Massachusetts legislature

159th
Massachusetts General Court
←158th 160th→
Overview
Legislative bodyGeneral Court
TermJanuary 5, 1955 (1955-01-05) – October 6, 1956 (1956-10-06) [1]
Senate
Members40 [2]
PresidentRichard I. Furbush
Party controlRepublican[2]
House
Members240
SpeakerMichael F. Skerry
Party controlDemocrat[3]
Richard I. Furbush
Richard Furbush, Senate president.
Michael F. Skerry
Michael Skerry, House speaker.
Leaders of the Massachusetts General Court, 1955-1956.

The 159th Massachusetts General Court, consisting of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts House of Representatives, met in 1955 and 1956 during the governorship of Christian Herter. Richard I. Furbush served as president of the Senate and Michael F. Skerry served as speaker of the House.[4]

The Massachusetts Legislative Research Bureau began operating in 1955.[5]

Senators

portrait name [4] date of birth [6] district [6]
John Adams May 30, 1915 4th Essex
John Joseph Beades June 8, 1916
Paul H. Benoit January 5, 1916
Philip Griggs Bowker April 17, 1899
Ralph Vester Clampit March 28, 1896
Silvio O. Conte November 9, 1921
James J. Corbett November 27, 1896
Leslie Bradley Cutler March 24, 1890
Edmund Dinis October 4, 1924
Maurice A. Donahue September 12, 1918
George Jelly Evans February 4, 1909
William Daniel Fleming April 14, 1907
Mary L. Fonseca March 30, 1915
Richard I. Furbush January 4, 1904
Joseph Francis Gibney January 9, 1911
C. Henry Glovsky March 26, 1918
Philip A. Graham May 21, 1910
Charles W. Hedges March 27, 1901
James W. Hennigan Jr. March 27, 1927
Charles V. Hogan April 12, 1897
Newland H. Holmes August 30, 1891
Charles John Innes June 1, 1901
Hastings Keith November 22, 1915
Fred I. Lamson December 11, 1910
Richard Henry Lee December 20, 1901
Ralph Lerche August 19, 1899
Harold R. Lundgren May 22, 1894
Ralph Collins Mahar January 4, 1912
Francis X. McCann September 2, 1912
Frederick T. McDermott November 20, 1906
Charles William Olson August 24, 1889
John Francis Parker May 29, 1907
John E. Powers November 10, 1910
Albert S. Previte Jr. September 26, 1928
Andrew P. Quigley January 13, 1926
Daniel Rudsten
Elizabeth Stanton May 27, 1909
Edward C. Stone June 29, 1878
Mario Umana May 5, 1914
Patrick John F. Walsh Jr. July 2, 1915

Representatives

portrait name [4] date of birth [6] district [6]
Frank Haskell Allen October 12, 1877 7th Worcester
Leonard H. Amoroso February 14, 1897
Charles H. Anthony July 6, 1893
Ernest W. April January 15, 1915
John A. Armstrong June 12, 1901
Charles J. Artesani
John George Asiaf June 30, 1900
John Robert Ayers February 18, 1911
Clifton H. Baker November 28, 1878
Cyrus Barnes August 23, 1889
Fred A. Baumeister September 24, 1892
James C. Bayley October 28, 1908
Raymond H. Beach August 11, 1888
Rene R. Bernardin July 24, 1910
Charles A. Bisbee Jr. June 8, 1918
Fred Arthur Blake January 13, 1895
Carlton H. Bliss August 7, 1900
Belden Bly September 29, 1914
Frank Edwin Boot November 8, 1905
Samuel Joseph Boudreau
Gordon Dickson Boynton August 9, 1901
Malcolm Blanchard Boynton November 13, 1894
G. Edward Bradley October 21, 1906
Rene A. Brassard August 5, 1917
John Cornelius Bresnahan November 14, 1919
Frank Eben Brown January 14, 1890
John D. Brown January 30, 1900
John Brox November 16, 1910
John Patrick Buckley 1906
William Francis Burke February 12, 1925
Pasquale Caggiano August 31, 1909
Oscar Josiah Cahoon April 29, 1912
Gardner E. Campbell November 22, 1886
John J. Campbell August 26, 1922
Harold Wilson Canavan May 13, 1915
Michael Herbert Cantwell May 2, 1905
Richard Caples December 23, 1921
Charles W. Capraro November 2, 1920
Michael Joseph Carroll June 21, 1891
Ralph W. Cartwright Jr. October 5, 1920
John Joseph Cavanaugh December 16, 1921
Harrison Chadwick February 25, 1903
Wendell Phillips Chamberlain October 28, 1911
Amelio Della Chiesa July 31, 1901
Stephen T. Chmura August 25, 1916
Thomas Francis Coady Jr. May 8, 1905
Anthony M. Colonna May 2, 1916
Harry Coltun
George Raymand Como July 3, 1912
James Francis Condon February 4, 1899
Joseph T. Conley
William Augustine Connell, Jr November 17, 1922
John W. Costello April 20, 1927
Leo Joseph Cournoyer December 11, 1905
William A. Cowing January 6, 1878
Wallace Boyd Crawford November 19, 1908
John Francis Cremens
Sidney Curtiss September 4, 1917
John A. Davis May 9, 1912
John Davoren July 27, 1915
James DeNormandie November 10, 1907
Domenic Victor DePari October 27, 1910
Wilfred Adolphus Derosier March 2, 1908
Edward DeSaulnier January 8, 1921
Cornelius Desmond October 4, 1893
Theophile Jean DesRoches June 27, 1902
William P. Di Vitto
Thomas J. Doherty August 25, 1919
John F. Dolan September 7, 1922
James R. Doncaster January 28, 1919
Edmond J. Donlan December 19, 1899
Allison Rice Dorman December 1, 1879
Charles Robert Doyle September 24, 1925
John T. Driscoll October 26, 1925
Charles E. Luke Driscoll October 1, 1909
Philip J. Durkin October 21, 1903
John Marshall Eaton Jr. March 26, 1918
Thomas Edward Enright August 1, 1881
Manuel Faria March 7, 1906
C. Eugene Farnam December 31, 1916
Thomas F. Farrell October 10, 1897
Michael Paul Feeney March 26, 1907
Lawrence F. Feloney September 11, 1921
Charles E. Ferguson January 30, 1894
William H. Finnegan March 29, 1926
Thomas M. Flaherty September 6, 1903
Stephen L. French March 9, 1892
Peter B. Gay July 13, 1915
Charles Gibbons July 21, 1901
Donald Linwood Gibbs August 7, 1904
Frank S. Giles June 15, 1915
Louis Harry Glaser June 15, 1910
Edwin Daniel Gorman November 19, 1912
Hollis M. Gott May 25, 1885
Joseph Patrick Graham August 22, 1902
Thomas T. Gray July 22, 1892
George Greene March 7, 1897
Thomas J. Hannon December 9, 1900
Francis Appleton Harding 1908
Fred C. Harrington April 21, 1902
William E. Hays November 28, 1903
Arthur Graham Heaney July 7, 1908
Francis J. Hickey, Jr. March 7, 1928
George W. Hill September 15, 1888
Paul L. Hinckley August 16, 1910
Isaac Alexander Hodgen March 28, 1907
Olaf Hoff Jr. January 11, 1892
Herbert B. Hollis September 10, 1899
Charles F. Holman June 21, 1892
J. Philip Howard February 16, 1907
Richard Lester Hull November 30, 1917
Walter Forbes Hurlburt February 18, 1917
Nathaniel M. Hurwitz March 24, 1893
Fred A. Hutchinson April 5, 1881
Christopher A. Iannella May 29, 1913
Charles Iannello April 25, 1906
John Peter Ivascyn October 19, 1909
William Whittem Jenness April 3, 1904
Adolph Johnson July 20, 1885
Ernest A. Johnson March 13, 1897
Stanley Everett Johnson October 4, 1911
Allan Francis Jones June 29, 1921
Abraham Herbert Kahalas
Sumner Z. Kaplan February 3, 1920
William Francis Keenan January 8, 1921
Charles T. Kelleher July 26, 1912
James H. Kelly October 15, 1919
Archibald E. Kenefick November 4, 1896
Edward L. Kerr March 6, 1909
Cornelius F. Kiernan August 15, 1917
Philip Kimball June 6, 1918
William James Kingston October 17, 1909
William Walter Kirlin May 13, 1897
Thomas Edward Kitchen December 16, 1924
Freyda Koplow October 26, 1907
Edmund Vincent Lane August 31, 1893
John Joseph Lawless July 15, 1912
James R. Lawton October 20, 1925
Carter Lee July 3, 1907
Francis W. Lindstrom December 18, 1898
Thomas Francis Linehan November 23, 1905
Gerald P. Lombard January 4, 1916
William Longworth August 17, 1914
Arthur Ulton Mahan June 18, 1900
Francis Joseph Marr October 10, 1927
Charles Sumner Marston 3d June 16, 1921
Rico Matera June 21, 1917
Joseph F. McEvoy Jr. April 27, 1918
Hugh J. McLaughlin September 27, 1915
John P. McMorrow September 19, 1926
Wilfred S. Mirsky September 14, 1906
Joe Moakley April 27, 1927
William Dix Morton Jr. November 5, 1904
Charles A. Mullaly Jr. September 28, 1910
John E. Murphy February 13, 1900
Cornelius Joseph Murray August 19, 1890
Harold Clinton Nagle July 27, 1917
Thomas M. Newth March 15, 1911
Leo James Normandin December 14, 1922
William F. Nourse September 12, 1922
James Anthony O'Brien October 27, 1886
Walter Wilson O'Brien October 14, 1910
David J. O'Connor November 9, 1924
Thomas J. O'Connor July 27, 1925
John Henry O'Connor Jr. December 9, 1917
James O'Dea Jr. August 25, 1922
George Henry O'Farrell November 15, 1910
Joseph Michael O'Loughlin November 26, 1914
John J. O'Rourke June 26, 1916
Daniel Matthew O'Sullivan August 17, 1921
Frank B. Oliveira
Harold A. Palmer October 15, 1906
Charles Louis Patrone March 17, 1914
Charles W. Patterson January 30, 1917
Patrick Francis Plunkett March 21, 1917
Michael A. Porrazzo June 2, 1913
George William Porter November 6, 1885
Harvey Armand Pothier September 6, 1901
Harold Putnam (Massachusetts politician) February 15, 1916
Philip Andrew Quinn February 21, 1910
William I. Randall September 13, 1915
George E. Rawson December 6, 1886
Frank G. Rico June 2, 1912
William H. J. Rowan June 21, 1879
Richard August Ruether August 28, 1896
Roger A. Sala August 8, 1893
Joseph Douglas Saulnier April 14, 1906
Anthony James Scalli November 11, 1914
Anthony M. Scibelli October 16, 1911
John Ralph Sennott Jr. April 22, 1910
John Ellsworth Sheldon August 17, 1909
Joseph Silvano March 1, 1909
Michael John Simonelli May 9, 1913
J. Roger Sisson August 14, 1921
Michael F. Skerry January 3, 1909
Thomas J. Slack February 10, 1914
Fletcher Smith Jr. May 20, 1918
George T. Smith March 18, 1888
Leo Sontag August 16, 1922
Anthony William Spadafora October 20, 1924
George I. Spatcher February 2, 1902
C. Clifford Stone August 20, 1897
Franklin Sturgis Jr. October 18, 1883
William Christopher Sullivan October 13, 1924
Joseph A. Sylvia August 19, 1892
Joseph A. Sylvia Jr. September 16, 1903
Alvin C. Tamkin June 19, 1924
Armand N. Tancrati May 3, 1914
Frank Daniel Tanner February 3, 1888
Duncan Forbes Thayer February 14, 1900
John F. Thompson (politician) May 20, 1920
George Hawley Thompson June 8, 1917
Irene Thresher July 6, 1900
Nathaniel Tilden November 3, 1903
Robert Xavier Tivnan June 9, 1924
John Joseph Toomey March 25, 1909
Herbert Tuckerman May 2, 1921
Earle Stanley Tyler December 18, 1896
John Taylor Tynan June 7, 1920
Theodore Jack Vaitses May 8, 1901
William X. Wall July 1, 1904
Joseph Francis Walsh February 9, 1907
Barclay H. Warburton III February 5, 1922
Joseph D. Ward March 26, 1914
Martha Ware October 6, 1917
Chester H. Waterous November 18, 1905
Norman S. Weinberg 1919
Philip F. Whitmore September 10, 1892
Charles E. Wilkinson December 26, 1883
Joseph Wisniowski March 1, 1918
Thomas Casmere Wojtkowski September 18, 1926
Stanislaus George Wondolowski August 20, 1909
Alton Hamilton Worrall April 20, 1893
John Yerxa April 23, 1904
Albert H. Zabriskie December 7, 1917
John F. Zamparelli December 13, 1922
Paul G. Zollo August 26, 1904

See also

References

  1. ^ "Length of Legislative Sessions". Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 2009. p. 348+.
  2. ^ a b "Composition of the Massachusetts State Senate", Resources on Massachusetts Political Figures in the State Library, Mass.gov, archived from the original on June 6, 2020
  3. ^ "Composition of the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives", Resources on Massachusetts Political Figures in the State Library, Mass.gov, archived from the original on June 6, 2020
  4. ^ a b c 1955–1956 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 1955 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Index of Special Reports Authorized by the General Court 1900-1988 (PDF) (6th ed.), Massachusetts Legislative Research Bureau, 1989, A Word About the Research Bureau
  6. ^ a b c d "Annual Register of the Executive and Legislative Departments of the Government of Massachusetts, 1955" (PDF), Journal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts – via State Library of Massachusetts

Further reading

  • "Big Job Ahead: Massachusetts Legislature Has Record Load of Bills", New York Times, December 12, 1954
  • Manual for the Use of the General Court. Boston: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 1955. hdl:2452/40792.