Background
Martin Leonard Sweeney was born on April 15, 1885 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Dominic Sweeney and Anne Collery.
Martin Leonard Sweeney was born on April 15, 1885 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Dominic Sweeney and Anne Collery.
Martin Sweeney received his early education in the Cleveland public schools and at St. Bridget's elementary school. In 1914 he received the LL. B. from Baldwin-Wallace College and began the practice of law in Cleveland.
From 1903 to 1908 Martin Sweeney worked on the ore docks for the Central Furnace Company. During this period he was active in the Longshoremen's Union, having been elected secretary of his local at the age of eighteen. In 1909 Sweeney was discharged because he refused to sign a "yellow dog" contract. Sweeney then became a salesman to support himself while he attended law school at Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland.
His union activities provided Sweeney with a foundation for a political career that began with his election to the state legislature in 1913 as a representative from Cuyahoga County. But his prolabor stance in the state legislature cost him official party endorsement for reelection.
Sweeney was elected judge of the municipal court of Cleveland in 1923; in 1929 he was reelected. During these years he was an outspoken opponent of prohibition and active in such fraternal organizations as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
A maverick in politics, he broke with Cleveland Mayor Ray T. Miller in order to support Roosevelt, ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Cleveland in 1933 as an independent, and survived an attempt by the local Democratic organization to defeat him in the congressional primary in 1934. Sweeney's congressional career was checkered.
Sweeney backed Father Coughlin's candidate, William J. Lemke of North Dakota, in the presidential campaign of 1936. Nevertheless, he was reelected to Congress in 1934 and 1936 without the support of the Democratic party. He asserted that his victory in 1936 was a mandate for him to pursue an independent course. Sweeney's congressional carreer was perhaps most noteworthy for his strict isolationism. In 1936 he opposed a resolution of condolence to England upon the death of King George V.
In 1940, after Sweeney had delivered a speech accusing Roosevelt of seeking to draw America into war, Congressman Beverly M. Vincent of Kentucky called him a traitor, and the result was a well-publicized exchange of punches on the floor of the House.
After being elected as an independent in 1934 and 1936, Sweeney patched up differences with local Democratic chiefs and was easily reelected in 1938. New differences appeared, however, in 1940, and he encountered opposition in his reelection bid. Despite victory, his strength was ebbing.
In 1942 he was defeated. Sweeney did not seek reelection to Congress. In 1944 Sweeney entered the Democratic gubernatorial primary. He was endorsed by the reactionary Gerald L. K. Smith. He ran a poor second to Frank J. Lausche.
For the rest of his life he practiced law in Cleveland, where he died.
Martin Sweeney was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1931 from the Ohio Twentieth Congressional District. He served in the House from 1931 until 1942. Sweeney was a politician of fierce independence and deep conviction. His career was shaped by strong identification with urban workers and intense ethnic loyalty. Labor advocate, ardent wet, isolationist, and Irish patriot, he was a colorful politician of a type that has been both the strength and the despair of the Democratic party.
In his religious denomination Martin Sweeney was a Roman Catholic.
His father, who had been an active Democrat for many years, died in 1897, and Sweeney began working to help support his mother and four brothers and sisters. An early supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sweeney worked on Roosevelt's behalf at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1932.
He was unsuccessful for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Cleveland in 1933 and in 1941, and for the gubernatorial nomination in 1944.
Sweeney was a consistent supporter of such labor legislation as the Norris-La Guardia Act and the Wagner Act, but he was not a New Dealer. Early in the New Deal he introduced the Nye-Sweeney bill, which proposed to give Congress the exclusive rights to regulate the currency.
He called for an investigation of maladministration in the Home Owners Loan Corporation. He supported the Townsend Plan for old age pensions, and he supported Father Charles Coughlin and his National Union for Social Justice, appearing with him in demonstrations in New York and Detroit.
His anglophobia stemmed from his passionate loyalty to Ireland, where many of his relatives still lived. He consistently voted against all legislation such as lend-lease, which he believed would lead America into war. In 1939 he suggested ironically that Washington streets be given new English names in preparation for the visit of King George VI. While the king was at the White House, Sweeney sent him a telegram asking for the repayment of England's World War I war debt.
In the summer of 1940, a bill establishing a peacetime military draft, H. R. 10132, was introduced. Sweeney denounced the bill as an attempt to drag America into World War II on the side of Great Britain. Beverly Vincent said Sweeney was a traitor and a "son of a bitch. " Sweeney swung at Vincent, and Vincent landed a hard right to Sweeney's head. The House doorkeeper called it the best fistfight he had witnessed in the House in his fifty years at his post.
Quotes from others about the person
When Sweeney denounced the bill as an attempt to drag America into World War II on the side of Great Britain. Beverly Vincent (D-KY) said Sweeney was a traitor and a "son of a bitch. "
Martin Leonard Sweeney married Marie Carlin in 1921; they had four children.
1848–1897
1886–1940
1896–1977
1858–1929
1924–2007
1887–1937
five-term U.S. Representative from Ohio
American politician from Lakewood, Ohio
