Background
James Howard McGrath was born on November 28, 1903, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He was the son of James J. McGrath, an Irish immigrant who owned a real estate and insurance business, and Ida Eleanor May.
James Howard McGrath was born on November 28, 1903, in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. He was the son of James J. McGrath, an Irish immigrant who owned a real estate and insurance business, and Ida Eleanor May.
McGrath graduated from Providence's La Salle Academy in 1922; he received his Ph. B. from Providence College in 1926 and his LL. B from Boston University Law School in 1929. He was admitted to the Rhode Island bar and began practice the same year, specializing in labor law.
McGrath worked for the Democratic party while at Providence College. In 1924 he helped found the Young Men's Democratic League of Rhode Island and served as its first president. He became vice-chairman of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee in 1928 and chairman from 1930 to 1934. He was chairman of the Rhode Island delegation to the 1932 Democratic National Convention; he served as a delegate in 1936 and to all of the national conventions from 1944 to 1960. McGrath began his political career in 1930 as the city solicitor of Central Falls, R. I. , a position he held until 1934, when he was appointed United States attorney for the district of Rhode Island. In 1940 he won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. He defeated the incumbent, William H. Vanderbilt, and was reelected in 1942 and 1944. As governor, he effected revision of the state tax structure, as well as legislation establishing a state labor relations board and a sickness compensation fund. He promoted state aid to cities, revised the juvenile-court system, and presided at a state constitutional convention. In October 1945, President Truman appointed him solicitor general of the United States. In this position McGrath successfully defended the constitutionality of the Public Holding Company Act and the conviction of Japan's General Tomoyuki Yamashita for war crimes. In 1946, McGrath was elected United States senator from Rhode Island. As senator, McGrath was known as a liberal who consistently supported administration policies. His management of the campaign helped produce Truman's upset of Thomas Dewey in November. In the same year, his book, The Power of the People, was published. At his suggestion the staff at the Democratic headquarters was desegregated, and he introduced the administration's civil rights bill in the Senate on April 28, 1949. McGrath left the Senate to assume the office of United States attorney general on August 24, 1949. In this post he was a strong advocate of civil rights. The Justice Department for the first time challenged the constitutionality of racial segregation, with McGrath arguing three landmark cases before the Supreme Court in April 1950. In one of these cases, the Court outlawed discriminatory dining arrangements in railroad cars. After leaving government service, McGrath returned to the practice of law and the management of his many business interests. He made two more sorties into the political arena. In 1956 he was campaign manager for Senator Estes Kefauver's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and remained to manage Kefauver's vice-presidential campaign. In 1960 he lost a Democratic primary race for the United States Senate. He died in Narragansett, R. I.
In October 1947, McGrath was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He did not give up his senatorial post but refused any financial compensation for his work as chairman. Despite widespread pessimism within the party, he felt that the Democrats could win the 1948 presidential election and set out to unite the party in support of Truman. McGrath was a strong defender of the administration's loyalty program, recommending that Truman refuse Senator Joseph McCarthy's request that the government disclose the contents of its loyalty files to his committee. Overall, however, McGrath was not considered a particularly effective attorney general because he reportedly left much of the administration of the Justice Department to subordinates, supplying little or no supervision. In late 1951, a House Ways and Means subcommittee uncovered evidence of corruption in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Tax Division of the Justice Department. In January 1952, Truman announced that the Justice Department would investigate and clean up any corruption in the government, but critics pointed out that the Justice Department was itself suspect. On February 1, Truman appointed Newbold Morris, an independent New York Republican, as special assistant to the attorney general to investigate the charges. When Morris began his probe, McGrath promised his full support and cooperation, but he had second thoughts in March when Morris asked that McGrath and over 500 top Justice officials each fill out a detailed financial questionnaire. At first McGrath indicated his willingness to complete the form, but on March 31, while testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee, McGrath said that the questionnaire was a violation of individual rights and an invasion of privacy. He indicated that he had not decided whether to fill out his form or require his subordinates to do so. Three days later, apparently without presidential mandate, McGrath fired Morris; and later that day, Truman asked for, and received, the attorney general's resignation.
James opposed the Taft-Hartley Act, the removal of wartime economic controls, and the reduction of income taxes; supported a loan to Britain; advocated wider social security measures; and cosponsored bills for national health insurance and federal aid to education.
Quotations: “There are today many Communists in America. They are everywhere - in factories, offices, butcher stores, on street corners, in private businesses. And each carries in himself the germ of death for society. ”
McGrath's sense of humor came to the fore when he sent his successor a wire saying, "My heartiest congratulations and I suggest you bring a pair of asbestos trousers with you. "
McGrath married Estelle Arnette Cadorette on November 28, 1929; they had one child.