17 Facts About Larry O'Brien

Larry O'Brien was one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists for more than two decades.

Larry O'Brien was Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Lyndon Johnson and chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Larry O'Brien, son of Irish immigrants, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

When he was not working in politics, Larry O'Brien managed his family's real estate and worked in public relations.

Larry O'Brien was born on July 7,1917, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Larry O'Brien was married to the former Elva Brassard in 1945.

Larry O'Brien was appointed in 1946,1948, and 1950 by his friend Foster Furcolo to serve locally as the director of his US House of Representatives election campaigns.

Larry O'Brien's election planning in key primary states such as Wisconsin and West Virginia helped to defuse the anxiety of party heavyweights about Kennedy's Catholicism.

Larry O'Brien had a major role in awarding patronage as one of President Kennedy's inner circle of trusted advisers.

Larry O'Brien accompanied President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy on their trip to Texas in November 1963 and was riding in the motorcade in Dallas.

Larry O'Brien was elected as national DNC chairman in 1968 on the tails of his Humphrey campaign job.

Larry O'Brien became infamous during the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago by engineering a series of party convention rule changes which served to exclude Eugene McCarthy delegates from certain roles in the convention and disallowed commentary on Humphrey's Vietnam War involvement.

The DNC Lawrence Larry O'Brien Award was created in 1992 by his family and the Democratic Party leaders to acknowledge the many years of service he gave to the party, his belief in the importance of volunteer contribution, and his role as counter-fixer to Cohn, Stone, and Mitchell et al.

Larry O'Brien lobbied successfully during President Kennedy's first year for the expansion of the US House of Representatives Standing Committee on rules to ensure a liberal and moderate majority.

The US National Archives and Records Administration Lawrence F O'Brien Gallery was named and opened in 2004 in his memory.

Larry O'Brien was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991, located at his birthplace, Springfield, Massachusetts.

Larry O'Brien died of cancer after surgery in Manhattan, New York, on September 28,1990, at the age of 73, and was interred in St Michaels Cemetery in Springfield, Massachusetts.