Career
Donahue was first elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1950 after spending two years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He became the Senate Majority Leader in 1958 and was elected Senate President in 1964. In 1970 he ran for Governor of Massachusetts, but lost the Democratic nomination to Boston Mayor Kevin H. White.
He resigned from the Senate in 1971 to become Professor of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Governmental Services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
In February 1989 the Institute was renamed in his honor and is now known as the UMass Donahue Institute. Honoring Donahue is the Donohue Elementary School in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
