Catherine E. Falvey

Catherine E. Falvey
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
from the 24th Middlesex district
In office
1941–1944
Personal details
BornCatherine Elizabeth Falvey
November 6, 1910
Somerville, Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 6, 1965 (aged 54)
Boston, Massachusetts

Catherine Elizabeth Falvey (November 6, 1910 – February 6, 1965) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Somerville, Massachusetts.[1] She was the first woman veteran of World War II to run for Congress, when she was defeated by fellow veteran John F. Kennedy in 1946.

Early life and education

Falvey was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, the daughter of John Joseph Falvey and Elizabeth Lillian Deacon Falvey.[2] Her father was a civil engineer and surveyor. She graduated from Portia Law School in Boston in 1932, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1934.[3]

Career

Falvey was the youngest woman elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives,[4] when she represented the 24th Middlesex district from 1941 to 1944.[1] From 1942 to 1946, she served in the Women's Army Corps (WAACs),[5] and retired as a major.[6] She was assigned to posts in London,[7] Washington, D.C., and Fort Oglethorpe[2] before she served as a prosecuting attorney and chief of the interrogation analysis division at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.[8][9]

In 1946, she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in the Democratic primary for Massachusetts's 11th congressional district; she finished fifth in the race, and lost the nomination to future president John F. Kennedy.[10][11] She was the first woman veteran from World War II to run for Congress.[12] In 1948 she was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention.[8][13]

In the late 1940s, Falvey toured in the United States, giving speeches to women's groups in favor of Democratic candidates, the Marshall Plan and the United Nations, and warning that political apathy could lead to fascism.[14][15] "In the most critical year of our history, the year when experience was most needed in government, inexperienced men were sent to Washington," she told a North Carolina audience in 1947.[16]

Falvey died in 1965, at the age of 54, in Boston.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "History of Women in the Massachusetts Legislature 1923 – 2015" (PDF). Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators. 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Catholic WAC Joins Paris Staff; Maj. Catherine Falvey Appointed to Prosecution Office". The Messenger. September 7, 1945. p. 5. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Democratic Women to Hear Catherine Falvey at Point". The Sandusky Register. August 14, 1947. p. 6. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Shanley, Joshua (April 22, 2025). Cold War Massachusetts. History Press. ISBN 978-1-5402-6598-2.
  5. ↑ "Catherine Falvey, WAAC Officer, in England". The Boston Globe. June 26, 1943. p. 12. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  6. ↑ U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1861–1985
  7. ↑ "Lady from Somerville Bobs Up in London". The Boston Globe. August 22, 1943. pp. 1, 4. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 3 "Catherine Falvey, 54, Dies Lost to Kennedy in '46 Race". The New York Times. February 8, 1965. p. 25. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Nazis Imperil Peace, WAC Officer Asserts; Back from Germany". The New York Times. May 9, 1946. p. 11. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Catherine Falvey Funeral". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. February 8, 1965. p. 34. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  11. ↑ Elshtain, Jean Bethke; Tobias, Sheila (1990). Women, Militarism, and War: Essays in History, Politics, and Social Theory. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. pp. 174–175. ISBN 978-0-8476-7470-1.
  12. ↑ Leamer, Laurence (September 29, 1996). The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American Family. Random House Publishing Group. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-449-91171-6.
  13. ↑ McCarty, Aggie (May 21, 1950). "Massachusetts 'Portia', Here to Substitute for India Edwards, Tells of Career". Dayton Daily News. p. 61. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Democrat Aid Raps Congress for ERP Delay; Miss Catherine Falvey Gives Talk at Public Meeting". The Post-Star. April 16, 1948. p. 5. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "GOP Leading to Fascism, Says Speaker; Democratic Women Hear Boston Attorney". Richmond Times-Dispatch. March 7, 1948. p. 28. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ Smethurst, Margarette (October 5, 1947). "In Any Language, the Message is the Same". The News and Observer. p. 25. Retrieved May 7, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
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