Paul A. Dever

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Paul Dever
58th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 6, 1949 – January 8, 1953
Lieutenant	Charles F. Sullivan
Preceded by	Robert F. Bradford
Succeeded by	Christian Herter
29th Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
In office January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1941
Governor	James Michael Curley Charles F. Hurley Leverett Saltonstall
Preceded by	Joseph E. Warner
Succeeded by	Robert T. Bushnell
Personal details
Born	Paul Andrew Dever (1903-01-15)January 15, 1903 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	April 11, 1958(1958-04-11) (aged 55) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Northeastern University Boston University (LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	Lieutenant commander
Battles/wars	World War II

Paul Andrew Dever (January 15, 1903 – April 11, 1958) was an American

He served^[when?] as the grand knight of the Mt. Pleasant Council of the Knights of Columbus.^[3] He was also the godfather to one of State Deputy Thomas J. Spring's children. He appointed Spring to a judgeship in Roxbury District Court.^[4]

Early political career

Dever was long interested in politics, having observed his uncle John, a leading figure in Massachusetts Democratic Party politics.^[1] He served for some time as an aide to Senator David I. Walsh, one of the state's most prominent Democratic politicians.^[5] Dever was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 3rd Middlesex district in 1928, and served from 1929 to 1935 in a district representing Cambridge that had historically been Republican.^[1]

In 1934 Dever was elected

Dever lost the 1946 race for lieutenant governor, but two years later he defeated incumbent governor Robert F. Bradford in a Democratic landslide, which saw that party gain complete control of the state for the first time in the 20th century. He was the state's 58th governor, and won election to a second term in 1950, defeating the Republican candidate, former Lieutenant Governor Arthur W. Coolidge.

During his tenure, Dever increased state aid to schools and issued an executive order to extend higher education benefits to Korean War veterans. Among his chief concerns were civil defense and resisting domestic communism. He supported legislation requiring school teachers to take loyalty oaths, and he advocated increasing old age and workers compensation insurance. He also introduced a graduated income tax, and introduced measures to improve the care and education of the state's mentally handicapped.^[5]

A major statewide transportation infrastructure initiative, developed by Governor Bradford, was passed during his term. Under this plan, the state constructed Massachusetts Route 128, the Central Artery, and Storrow Drive. The first bond issue for this work was passed early in his term; it had previously been rejected by the Democratic legislature in Bradford's tenure.^[1][6] This and other major spending initiatives greatly exceeded the amount raised by new tax levies,^[6] and marked the start of an extended period of deficit spending by the state.^[5] In Dever's second term, transportation spending was further expanded, and he established the Massachusetts Turnpike Commission, which funded construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike through bonds paid off by tolls.^[7]

Another major initiative undertaken during Dever's period in office was a significant expansion of the state's facilities for the mentally handicapped, which had suffered for many years from overcrowding and understaffing. Among the facilities built was the Myles Standish State School for the Mentally Retarded in Taunton, which was renamed the Paul A. Dever State School in his honor after his death.

In 1952, Dever made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Dever was also the keynote speaker at the 1952 Democratic National Convention; his speech, one of the first such speeches to be televised, made the portly Dever look bad.^[8] Also that year, the Dever administration came under fire when the Massachusetts Federation of Taxpayers Associations found that pensions for members and former members of the state legislature had been increased. One of those eligible was former Mayor of Boston and Governor James Michael Curley, a convicted felon. Dever gave in to pressure groups, calling a special session of the legislature that repealed the bill.

Dever had built a strong political machine in Massachusetts, and was widely considered a potential candidate for the

Sources

• Hannan, Caryn, ed. (2008). Massachusetts Biographical Dictionary. Hamburg, MI: State History Publications.
  OCLC 198759744
  .
• Hogarty, Richard (2002). Massachusetts Politics and Public Policy: Studies in Power and Leadership. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
  OCLC 48655943
  .
• Lapomarda, Vincent A. (1992). The Knights of Columbus in Massachusetts (second ed.). Norwood, Massachusetts: Knights of Columbus Massachusetts State Council.
• Nelson, Garrison (2017). John William McCormack: A Political Biography. Bloomsbury.
  ISBN 9781628925173
  .
• O'Connor, Thomas (1995). Building a New Boston: Politics and Urban Renewal, 1950-1970. Boston: University Press of New England.
  OCLC 231793654
  .
• Savage, Sean (2012). JFK, LBJ, and the Democratic Party. Albany: SUNY Press.
  OCLC 62386293
  .

• State Library of Massachusetts, "Massachusetts State Legislator's Papers Collections at the State Library", Mass.gov