60 Facts About Foster Furcolo

John Foster Furcolo was an American lawyer, writer, and Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts.

Foster Furcolo was the state's 60th governor, and represented the state as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Foster Furcolo was the first Italian-American governor of the state, and an active promoter of community colleges.

Foster Furcolo first won election to Congress in 1948, and served most of two terms, resigning after being appointed Massachusetts Treasurer in 1952 by Governor Paul A Dever.

Foster Furcolo won two terms as governor, serving from 1957 to 1961.

Foster Furcolo's administration was overshadowed by corruption scandals, but no charges against him made it to trial.

Foster Furcolo was twice an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate.

Foster Furcolo was the author of several books, including a novel set amid events surrounding the World War II Katyn massacre.

John Foster Furcolo was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on July 29,1911.

Foster Furcolo's father, Charles Furcolo, was an Italian immigrant and a doctor, and his mother was an Irish immigrant.

Foster Furcolo attended public schools in Longmeadow, Massachusetts and New Haven.

Foster Furcolo then attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1933, and finally Yale Law School, where he received his LL.

Foster Furcolo was undefeated as a boxer and was encouraged to turn professional, but chose not to.

Foster Furcolo engaged in literary pursuits, writing short stories and plays that were produced locally.

Foster Furcolo dropped use of his first name when he entered politics.

In 1937 Foster Furcolo moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, where he opened a law practice.

Foster Furcolo specialized in criminal and civil trial work, and quickly rose in prominence, the quality of his legal preparation and trial work receiving favorable notice from others in the legal community.

Foster Furcolo made his first bid for public office in 1942, an unsuccessful run for district attorney.

Foster Furcolo was a member of the Indian Orchard Council number 183 of the Knights of Columbus.

In 1946 Furcolo stood for election as a Democratic Party candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat, running against incumbent Charles R Clason.

Foster Furcolo lost by 3,000 votes, a narrow margin, in an election dominated in the state by Republican victories.

In 1950, Foster Furcolo was challenged by Polish-American Republican Charles Skibinski, who sought to capitalize on the large number of Polish-Americans in the district in a campaign in which there were no major issues.

Foster Furcolo retained his seat, winning by more than 10,000 out of over 130,000 votes cast.

Foster Furcolo served in the House of Representatives from January 3,1949, until his resignation on September 30,1952.

Foster Furcolo drew national attention when he was the first freshman representative to be invited to the White House by President Harry S Truman to discuss legislative matters.

Foster Furcolo innovatively introduced the idea of a "people's council", composed of individuals from a cross-section of his district's interests, which he could consult to gauge opinion on legislative matters.

In 1951 Foster Furcolo was appointed to a special committee established to investigate reports of mass killings of Polish military officers and intelligentsia by the Soviets during World War II in the Katyn Forest.

Foster Furcolo used what he learned from the committee's investigations to write a novel, Rendezvous at Katyn, which is set amid those events.

On July 5,1952, Furcolo was appointed by Governor Paul A Dever to be the Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to replace John E Hurley, who had resigned to accept a position as clerk of the Boston Municipal Court.

In November 1952, Foster Furcolo was elected in his own right to the Treasurer's office despite Dever's loss of the governor's seat; he held that position until January 1955.

In 1954 Furcolo ran for the US Senate, but was narrowly defeated by incumbent Republican Leverett A Saltonstall.

Foster Furcolo later learned that Kennedy had lent Ted Sorensen, a key member of his staff, to the Saltonstall campaign, and that Kennedy's father Joseph had financially supported Saltonstall's campaign.

Foster Furcolo ran for Governor of Massachusetts in 1956, easily winning the Democratic party nomination and primary.

Foster Furcolo was further characterized by Republicans as a part of the Dever political machine who would be beholden to Boston interests.

Foster Furcolo won the election and was re-elected in 1958, easily defeating former Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Charles Gibbons, who was chosen by the Republicans as a write-in candidate after their chosen nominee, Attorney General George Fingold, died two months before the election.

Foster Furcolo was a vigorous and active chief executive, working long hours in the office.

Foster Furcolo came to the office with large-scale visions and worked hard, sometimes stubbornly and against other party interests, to realize some of them.

Foster Furcolo was not always seen as a "team player" by members of his own party in the legislature whose backgrounds he did not generally share.

Foster Furcolo introduced income-tax withholding from payroll checks, leading to a significant increase in state revenue.

Foster Furcolo appointed the state's youngest state purchasing agent, Bernard "Bunny" Solomon, who saved taxpayers hundreds of thousands annually.

Foster Furcolo was a skeptic on the subject of the death penalty, ordering a study of the institution shortly after taking office, and commuted the death sentences of four men while governor.

Foster Furcolo was an influential figure in the development of Boston's Government Center area as a nexus of local, federal and state offices.

Foster Furcolo was the first to propose that a federal office building planned for the Back Bay area of the city instead become part of a major redevelopment effort in the declining Scollay Square neighborhood.

Foster Furcolo helped to broker the deal, making it possible for Prudential to begin construction.

Foster Furcolo's administration was marked by the continuing trend of corruption in state government that had been growing in prior administrations.

Foster Furcolo established the Massachusetts Parking Commission to oversee the effort, but did not place it under any sort of oversight.

In 1960 Foster Furcolo again ran for the US Senate, and was widely expected to gain the Democratic Party nomination easily.

Foster Furcolo attributed his defeat to his support for the sales tax proposal.

Foster Furcolo initially sought to appoint himself, but was pressured by the Kennedys to appoint Benjamin Smith instead.

Foster Furcolo took the loss badly and decided to leave politics.

Foster Furcolo returned to private practice, moving to Needham and his law firm to Newton.

In 1966, Furcolo sought the Democratic nomination for Massachusetts attorney general but lost the nomination to former Lieutenant Governor Francis X Bellotti in September.

Foster Furcolo worked from 1967 to 1972 as an assistant district attorney for Middlesex County.

Foster Furcolo was selected as an administrative law judge with the US Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission in 1975, a post he held through 1989.

Foster Furcolo maintained an interest in higher education after his departure from elective politics.

Foster Furcolo served for many years on the state's board of regents, which was responsible for overseeing the state-run institutions of higher learning.

Foster Furcolo died of heart failure at the age of 83 on July 5,1995, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.

In 1980, Furcolo married Constance M Gleason, who survived him.

Foster Furcolo was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta by the government of Poland for his role in the investigation of Katyn, and he received the Italian Star of Solidarity.

Foster Furcolo was awarded honorary degrees from Boston University, Portia Law School, Suffolk University, the University of Massachusetts, and a number of other schools.