David I. Walsh

David Ignatius Walsh (November 11, 1872June 11, 1947) was an American politician from Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the state's 46th governor before winning election to several terms in the United States Senate, becoming the first Irish Catholic from Massachusetts to fill either office.

Born in Leominster, Massachusetts, Walsh was educated at the College of the Holy Cross, subsequently entering a legal practice in Boston after graduating from the Boston University School of Law. He served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1900 to 1901, establishing a reputation as an anti-imperialist and isolationist. In 1912, he won election as the 43rd lieutenant governor, becoming the state's first Democratic lieutenant governor in seventy years. He served as governor from 1914 to 1916 and led a successful effort to call for a state constitutional convention.

Walsh won election to the Senate in 1918, earning a reputation as a supporter of Irish independence and as a strong opponent of the Treaty of Versailles. He lost his re-election bid in 1924 but returned to the Senate two years later. Walsh became increasingly opposed to an activist government, and supported Al Smith over Franklin D. Roosevelt at the 1932 Democratic National Convention. Despite his lukewarm support for President Roosevelt's New Deal agenda, he introduced the Walsh-Healey Act that established labor standards for government contractors. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Walsh opposed American involvement in World War II and was a leading member of the America First Committee. However, in a reversal from his earlier stance on the League of Nations, he voted to ratify the United Nations Charter in 1946.

Walsh lost his 1946 re-election bid to Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. and died the following year. A maverick in the Senate who regularly broke with his own party, he was remembered chiefly for his isolationism, as well as his passionate defense of Irish and Catholic interests. Walsh, who never married, was also dogged by accusations of homosexuality during his lifetime, including a sensationalized scandal in his final term that he privately called "a tragic Gethsemane" to his political career. Provided by Wikipedia