Francis X. Morrissey
Francis X. Morrissey | |
---|---|
Judge of the Boston Municipal Court | |
In office July 31, 1958 – May 21, 1980 | |
Preceded by | Frank W. Tomasello |
Succeeded by | Robert A. Mulligan |
Personal details | |
Born | Francis Xavier Morrissey May 21, 1910 Boston, Massachusetts, US |
Died | December 27, 2007 Boston, Massachusetts, US | (aged 97)
Resting place | Holyhood Cemetery, Brookline, Massachusetts |
Citizenship | United States |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Frances (Kelley) Morrissey |
Children | 10 |
Parents |
|
Alma mater | Suffolk University |
Profession | Attorney, judge |
Known for | Unsuccessful nomination to federal judgeship |
Francis Xavier Morrissey (May 21, 1910 – December 27, 2007) was a
Because of his connection to Kennedy,
Early life
Morrissey was born in
Morrissey went to Georgia in the summer of 1933 and received a law degree from a diploma mill, the Southern Law School in Athens, Georgia.[6] The school required no study to graduate, Morrissey told the Senate Judiciary Committee.[7] At that time, Georgia admitted attorneys without taking a bar examination and attorneys could be licensed on diploma privilege.[6] Morrissey was admitted to practice in the Clarke County circuit court on September 7, 1933, the day he received his diploma.[8] The next day he was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court of Georgia and the day after that in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.[9] The Georgia law allowing for the diploma privilege was repealed in 1933.[10]
During his Senate nomination hearing, Morrissey was questioned about how long he had spent in Georgia practicing law and whether he had been truthful in his application to the bar in stating he was a resident of that state.[11] This was an issue in part because in 1934 Morrissey had unsuccessfully run for the Massachusetts legislature, a candidacy that required residency in the state as of January 1, 1934. Yet Morrissey testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had lived in Georgia for at least six months after his graduation from the Southern Law School in September 1933.[10][12] Morrissey finished twelfth of sixteen candidates in the September 20, 1934, primary for the Suffolk County Ward 2 seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, receiving 420 votes.[13] Morrissey appeared in the 1933 and 1934 Boston city directories as living at 15 Prospect Street and working as a bank teller.[12]
Morrissey was a
While working for Governor Tobin, Morrissey met
Morrissey left Kennedy's Senate office when he became judge of the Boston Municipal Court in July 1958.[14] Governor Foster Furcolo appointed Morrissey a judge on the recommendation of Senator Kennedy.[17] He took the place of Frank W. Tomasello, who Governor Furcolo had appointed to the Massachusetts Superior Court.[18]
Morrissey was appointed chairman of the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston in 1963 by Joseph P. McMurray, chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.[19] He was reappointed in 1964 and 1965.[20]
Considered for Federal judgeship
Senator Kennedy was elected president in 1960. On May 16, 1961, President Kennedy signed a law creating a seventy-three new Federal judgeships, including a district court judgeship in Massachusetts.[21]
Morrissey said of President Kennedy's father
Stories appeared in the press in 1961 stating President Kennedy was considering nominating Morrissey to be a federal judge.
Edward and Joan Kennedy vacationed on Capri with Morrissey and his wife in the summer of 1961.[16] Morrissey accompanied Kennedy throughout Massachusetts in 1962 as part of his successful campaign for election to the Senate that year.[16][10] Morrissey was one of only two people not members of the Kennedy family present at the August 1963 funeral of President Kennedy's son Patrick, the other being Cardinal Francis Spellman.[29]
Nominated to the Federal bench
Morrissey told friends that just before his
Edward Kennedy wanted the nomination for Morrissey with all his heart, whatever the reasons. Morrissey had served the Kennedys, father, John, and Edward, long and well. Whether out of personal gratitude, respect for his father, sincere admiration and respect for Morrissey, or what is more likely, a combination of all these elements, Senator Edward Kennedy fought prodigiously for Judge Morrissey's appointment.
Robert F. Kennedy,
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in October 1965.
The A.B.A.’s Albert Jenner testified that an investigation of Morrissey could find almost no evidence that he had tried cases in state or Federal court or that he had briefed or argued appeals in Massachusetts.
The Senate Judiciary Committee issued a favorable report on Morrissey.
Because of questions about Morrissey's whereabouts in Georgia in 1933, Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach had the F.B.I. quickly investigate and wrote to Senator Eastland, chairman of the Judiciary Committee that Morrissey had spent months in Georgia at the time.[51] Leverett Saltonstall, the other United States Senator from Massachusetts, withdrew his support from Morrissey because of the questions about the nominee's background raised at the hearing and asked for further investigation.[51] The Boston Globe found that Morrissey had registered to vote in Boston in July 1933, which was at a time he testified he was studying law in Georgia.[54]
Senator Kennedy on October 21 passionately defended Morrissey on the Senate floor stating that the American Bar Association opposed Morrissey out of snobbery because he could not afford to attend law school full-time during the Great Depression. “He was young and he was poor, one of twelve children, his father a dock worker, the family living in a home without gas, electricity or heat in the bedroom. Their shoes held together with wooden pegs their father made. As a child of this family, Judge Morrissey could not afford to study law full-time.”[2] But Kennedy surprised the Senate by then ending the fight for his confirmation by sending the nomination back to the Judiciary Committee.[55] While Kennedy may have been able to force Morrissey's confirmation through the Senate, it would have hurt him politically to do so.[16]
President Johnson then withdrew the nomination at Morrissey's request, writing Johnson that he wanted to withdraw “to prevent further anguish to my family and further harassment to you and to those who supported me so loyally.”[56] Columnist Drew Pearson said Senator Kennedy “snafued his reputation by putting family cronies ahead of public trust.”[57]
President Johnson in 1966 nominated
Later life
Despite the failed nomination, Morrissey remained close to the Kennedy family. In May 1967, he went with them to
Morrissey was censured in 1974 by the
Morrissey retired from the Boston Municipal Court in May 1980 when he reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy.[64] Governor Edward J. King in July 1980 nominated Robert A. Mulligan to replace Morrissey.[65]
Personal life
Morrissey and his wife, Frances Kelly, had ten children, three of whom died in infancy.
Morrissey's oldest son, Francis X. Morrissey, Jr., was an attorney.[66] Francis Jr. was suspended from the bar in 1995 over his conduct in an admiralty case[67] and disbarred in 2009 after being convicted of felonies involving the will of philanthropist Brooke Astor.[68]
President Kennedy was the godfather of Morrissey's son Joseph P.[25] Morrissey's youngest son Richard Cushing Morrissey, named for the Archbishop of Boston, was the first child to be baptized live on television.[69] Cardinal Cushing performed the baptism.[25] Morrissey's other children were Maryann (Morrissey) Curtin, Thomas Morrissey, Clare (Morrissey) Ahern, and Catherine Morrissey.
Morrisey was a
Morrissey died at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on December 27, 2007.[3] He was buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.[3]
Notes
- ^ For this quotation, Schlesinger cited a 1976 interview with William C. Sullivan, deputy director of the F.B.I. from 1961 to 1971, when J. Edgar Hoover fired him. Johnson had died in 1973, Hoover in 1972, and Sullivan in 1977, the year before Schlesinger's book was published.
References
- ^ a b c U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 99.
- ^ a b Graham 1965.
- ^ a b c d e f Driscoll 2008.
- ^ a b c d U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 52.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 56.
- ^ a b U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 58.
- ^ Clymer 1965.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 63.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, pp. 58–61.
- ^ a b c MacKenzie 1965a.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, pp. 99–105.
- ^ a b c d Healy 1965.
- ^ Boston Board of Election Commissioners 1935, p. 75.
- ^ a b c U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 100.
- ^ a b Morrissey 1964, p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e Duscha 1965.
- ^ Morrissey 1964, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Mills 1958.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 44.
- ^ McCartney 1966.
- ^ a b c d e Lukas 1985, p. 230.
- ^ Knott 2006.
- ^ a b Chapman 1965.
- ^ a b c MacKenzie 1965c.
- ^ Lewis 1961.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 55.
- ^ Dever 1965, p. 209.
- ^ Burd 1963.
- ^ a b c Chase 1968, p. 980.
- ^ Hersh 2010, p. 209.
- ^ U.S. National Archives and Records Service 1965, p. 341.
- ^ Newfield 1969, p. 154.
- ^ a b c Schlesinger 1978, p. 714.
- ^ a b Wicker 1965.
- ^ New York Times 1965a.
- ^ New York Times 1965b.
- ^ New Republic 1965.
- ^ Christian Science Monitor 1965.
- ^ Schlesinger 1978, p. 715.
- ^ Sun 1965.
- ^ Reston 1965.
- ^ Childs 1965.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 1.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, pp. 14, 3, 8.
- ^ Nelson 2017, p. 695.
- ^ Chase 1968, p. 981.
- ^ Time 1965.
- ^ U.S. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary 1965, p. 54.
- ^ Doyle 1965b.
- ^ a b c Albright 1965.
- ^ Kennedy 1965.
- ^ a b Chase 1968, p. 984.
- ^ Doyle 1965a.
- ^ MacKenzie 1965b.
- ^ Young 1965.
- ^ Pearson 1965.
- ^ Associated Press 1966.
- ^ Frankel 1967.
- ^ Fenton 1968.
- ^ In re Morrissey, 313 N.E.2d 878, 882 (Mass. July 12, 1974).
- ^ Spotlight 1973.
- ^ Estate of Krock v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 93 T.C. 672 (U.S. Tax Court December 11, 1989).
- ^ Staff Writer 1980a.
- ^ Staff Writer 1980b.
- ^ Kovaleski 2007.
- ^ In re Morrissey, 634 N.Y.S. 2d 51 (N.Y. App. Div. November 16, 1995).
- ^ In re Morrissey, 898 N.Y.S. 2d 1 (N.Y. App. Div. February 18, 2010).
- ^ United Press 1956.
Works cited
- Albright, Robert C. (October 19, 1965). "Showdown Nears on Morrissey Nomination". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. p. A1. ISSN 2641-077X.
- ISSN 0145-8027.
- Beckman, Aldo (October 14, 1965). "Senators O.K. Morrissey's Nomination". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. A2. ISSN 1085-6706.
- Boston Board of Election Commissioners (1935). Annual Report of the Board of Election Commissioners for the Year 1934. Boston: City of Boston.
- Burd, Laurence (August 11, 1963). "Private Rites Held for President's Son". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. A1. ISSN 1085-6706.
- Chapman, William (September 27, 1965). "Kennedy Clan Friend to Get Judgeship". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. p. A1. ISSN 2641-077X.
- ISSN 0026-5535. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ISSN 2641-077X.
- ISSN 0145-8027.
- ISSN 1930-8965.
- Dever, Joseph (1965). Cushing of Boston: A Candid Portrait. Boston: Bruce Humphries. OCLC 766165.
- Driscoll, Edgar J. (January 2, 2008). "Francis X. Morrissey, at 97, was judge, longtime Kennedy confidant". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. B9. ISSN 0743-1791.
- Doyle, James S. (October 19, 1965a). "Morrissey's Atlanta Address Backed by Katzenbach". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- Doyle, James S. (October 19, 1965b). "Dirksen Doubtful Morrissey Can Win". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- ISSN 2641-077X.
- Fenton, John H. (June 6, 1968). "Cushing Visits Elder Kennedys After Day of Prayer for Senator". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. A1. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- Furcolo, Foster (June 9, 1964). "John Foster Furcolo Oral History Interview" (PDF). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- Healy, Robert (October 15, 1965). "Candidacy Raises New Morrissey Issue: Ran Here in 1934". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- ISBN 9781582436289.
- ISSN 0883-1947. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Knott, Stephen (September 14, 2006). "Edward M. Kennedy Oral History Project: Interview with Martin Nolan" (PDF). Miller Center. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Kovaleski, Serge (December 1, 2007). "Lawyer Charged in Astor Case Has Been Accused of Other Improprieties". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. B1. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- Lukas, J. Anthony (1985). Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-394-41150-7.
- McCartney, James (January 8, 1966). "Morrissey Reappointed to U.S. Loan Bank Job". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. p. A2. ISSN 2641-077X.
- MacKenzie, John P. (October 15, 1965a). "Residency During 1934 Questioned". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. ISSN 2641-077X.
- MacKenzie, John P. (October 15, 1965b). "Morrissey's Nomination is Shelved: Kennedy Gives Up Judge Fight". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. p. A1. ISSN 2641-077X.
- MacKenzie, John P. (October 3, 1965c). "In Boston the Hurrahs Are Heard for Morrissey". The Washington Post and Times-Herald. Washington, D.C. ISSN 2641-077X.
- Mills, Edgard M. (June 6, 1958). "Furcolo to Promote Five District Judges". Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0145-8027.
- Morrissey, Francis (June 9, 1964). "Francis X. Morrissey Oral History Interview" (PDF). John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- Nelson, Garrison (2017). John William McCormack, A Political Biography. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781628925166.
- ISSN 0028-6583.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- New York Times (October 21, 1965b). "The Morrissey Vote". New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. 46. ISSN 0362-4331.
- Newfield, Jack (1969). Robert F. Kennedy: A Memoir. New York: E.P. Dutton.
- ISSN 2641-077X.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- ISSN 1930-8965.
- Lukacs, J. Anthony (1986). Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. New York: Vintage.
- ISBN 9780395248973.
- Time (October 22, 1965). "The Judiciary: From Pillory to Post". Time. Vol. 86, no. 17. p. 24.
- ISSN 2641-077X.
- Spotlight (May 17, 1973). "Judge Morrissey received questionable $4,000 check from Krock". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. A1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- Staff Writer (June 8, 1980a). "Short Circuits". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- Staff Writer (July 24, 1980b). "Mulligan Nominated for Judge". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 1. ISSN 0743-1791.
- ISSN 0511-4187. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- OCLC 21728339.
- ISSN 0362-4331.
- Young, Robert (November 5, 1965). "Morrissey Gives Up on Nomination". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 1. ISSN 1085-6706.