Paul O'Dwyer
{{short description|American politician (1907-1998)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Paul O'Dwyer
| image = Paul O'Dwyer 1968 (5874062127) (cropped).jpg
| caption = O'Dwyer In 1968
| order =
| office = 9th President of the New York City Council
| term_start = January 1, 1974
| term_end = December 31, 1977
| predecessor = Sanford Garelik
| successor = Carol Bellamy
| party = Democratic
| birth_name = Peter Paul O'Dwyer
| birth_date = {{birth date|1907|6|29}}
| birth_place = Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|6|23|1907|6|29}}
}}
Peter Paul O'Dwyer (June 29, 1907 – June 23, 1998) was an Irish-born American politician and civil rights lawyer who served as President of the New York City Council during 1974–1977. He was the younger brother of Mayor William O'Dwyer, and the father of New York State Gaming Commission Chair Brian O'Dwyer.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/25/nyregion/paul-o-dwyer-new-york-s-liberal-battler-for-underdogs-and-outsiders-dies-at-90.html |title=Paul O'Dwyer, New York's Liberal Battler For Underdogs and Outsiders, Dies at 90 |work=The New York Times |access-date=August 25, 2022 |first=Francis X. |last=Clines |date=June 25, 1998}}
Education and career
Paul O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, and in 1925 emigrated to Brooklyn, New York. He was educated at Fordham University and St. John's Law School, and became a United States citizen in 1931.
Active in local Irish-American organizations as a young man, O'Dwyer had a law practice in downtown Brooklyn while his brother William served as the borough's magistrate.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109824523/edward-t-oloughlin-the-galtimores/|title=O'Loughlin's Column: The Galtimores|date=June 4, 1935|work=Brooklyn Times Union|first=Edward T.|last=O'Laughlin|access-date=September 19, 2022|page=10A|via=Newspapers.com}} In the late 1930s, O'Dwyer was the chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Community Council.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110002943/meeting-urges-wagner-health-bill/|title=Meeting Urges Wagner Health Bill Passage|date=May 27, 1939|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=September 22, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} When his brother became Kings County District Attorney in 1940, Paul O'Dwyer moved his law practice from Brooklyn to Manhattan, saying, "I do not wish to be representing a defendant when my brother is in charge of the prosecution."{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110003445/odwyers-brother-wont-face-him-as/|title=O'Dwyer's Brother Won't Face Him as Criminal Lawyer|date=November 15, 1939|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=September 22, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}
Prior to Pearl Harbor, O'Dwyer was a vehement opponent of American involvement in World War II. As chairman of the American Friends of Irish Neutrality, he traveled the United States to speak with and rally pro-neutrality (particularly Irish-American) groups.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109489711/many-masses-for-eire-on-april-19/|title=Many Masses For Eire On April 19|date=April 12, 1941|work=The Tablet (Brooklyn, New York)|access-date=August 13, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109495345/keep-ireland-out-of-the-war/|title="Keep Ireland Out of the War" (advertisement)|date=May 31, 1941|work=The Tablet (Brooklyn, New York)|access-date=August 13, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}}
Some of O'Dwyer's more renowned legal cases were those involving people accused of Communist activities. Active in the National Lawyers Guild, he became its president in 1947 and served on its national board from 1948 to 1951.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109697770/john-crosson-tiger-to-purr-for/|first=John|last=Crosson|title=Tiger To Purr For Brother Of O'Dwyer|date=July 23, 1948|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 17, 2022|pages=2, 30|via=Newspapers.com}} He supported both constitutionalist and Irish republican initiatives. His influence protected several Irish Republican Army gunmen from deportation, including "The Fort Worth Five" and Vincent Conlon.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109697302/case-of-fort-worth-five/|title=Case of 'Fort Worth Five': Civil liberties battle feared|agency=CDN|date=July 26, 1972|work=The Vancouver Sun|access-date=August 17, 2022|page=20|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109697547/jack-mckinney-the-passing-of-vince/|title=The passing of Vince Conlon noted at famous IRA shrine|date=June 23, 1995|last=McKinney|first=Jack|work=Philadelphia Daily News|access-date=September 17, 2022|page=42|via=Newspapers.com}}
O'Dwyer supported the illegal transportation of weapons to Palestine in the 1940s and to Northern Ireland in the 1970s, and admitted knowledge of such smuggling routes. He considered the transportation of arms to be an acceptable form of smuggling and compared it to the smuggling of narcotics.{{cite episode |title=Hands Across the Sea |first=Peter |last=Taylor |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlG7jmmbOxw&t=18m37s |minutes=18:37 |series=This Week |network=ITV |station=Thames Television |via=YouTube (official channel) |date=May 8, 1975 |access-date=November 21, 2022 |quote= }}
O'Dwyer publicly opposed library censorship of books,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109496288/citizen-paine-on-way-out-as-board/|title='Citizen Paine' On Way Out as Board Votes Ban|date=February 27, 1947|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=September 13, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} defended labor union leaders and alleged anarchists,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109698052/paul-odwyer-held-in-contempt/|title=Paul O'Dwyer Held in Contempt|date=June 8, 1949|work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=September 17, 2022|pages=1, 17|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109874229/claim-fair-trial-is-out-for-anarchy/|title=Claim Fair Trial Is Out For Anarchy Suspects|date=June 24, 1967|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 20, 2022|page=C6|via=Newspapers.com}} supported the left-wing American Labor Party,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109496783/lawyers-guild-ok-given-alp-choices-for/|title=Lawyers Guild OK Given ALP Choices For Judicial Posts|date=October 17, 1948 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle|access-date=September 13, 2022|page=36|via=Newspapers.com}} challenged racial segregation in New York housing and on Wall Street,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109699138/nnpa-seek-to-make-new-york-fepc/|title=Seek to Make New York FEPC Effective|date=December 5, 1947|agency=NNPA|work=Alabama Tribune|access-date=September 17, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109699997/official-says-fha-policy-comes-from/|title=Official Says FHA Policy Comes From D.C.|date=March 25, 1949|agency=NNPA|work=Alabama Tribune|access-date=September 17, 2022|page=5|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109699468/metropolitan-seeks-ejection-of/|title=Metropolitan Seeks Ejection Of Tenants|date=December 22, 1950|agency=NNPA|work=Alabama Tribune|access-date=September 17, 2022|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}} fought for the creation of Israel,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109825539/ap-palestine-arms-cache-2-zionists/|agency=Associated Press|title=Palestine Arms Cache, 2 Zionists Seized in N.Y.|date=April 29, 1948 |work=Rochester Democrat and Chronicle|access-date=September 19, 2022|page=1|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110453598/friendship-award-to-paul-odwyer/|title=Friendship Award To Paul O'Dwyer|date=December 14, 1967|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 30, 2022|page=K3|via=Newspapers.com}} organized Black voters in the South,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109672558/lawyers-to-monitor-mississippi/|title=Lawyers to Monitor Mississippi Voting|date=November 4, 1967|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}} represented striking Kentucky coal miners, argued for the rights of mainland Puerto Rican voters before the U.S. Supreme Court,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109497390/ap-paul-odwyer-nycs-champion-of/|agency=Associated Press|title=Paul O'Dwyer, NYC's champion of causes|date=June 25, 1998|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=September 13, 2022|pages=2–10|via=Newspapers.com}} sued New York City to keep transit fares low,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109873753/board-sues-to-force-ta-subsidy-daily/|title=Board Sues to Force TA Subsidy|date=February 4, 1967|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 20, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}} and led an April 1969 antiwar march of tens of thousands of protesters from Times Square to Central Park.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109874582/ap-thousands-march-in-new-york-city/|agency=Associated Press|title=Thousands March in New York City, Chicago to Protest War in Vietnam|date=April 6, 1969|work=Louisville Courier-Journal|access-date=September 20, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}}
O'Dwyer's downtown Manhattan law office famously served as the resting place of the acerbic writer Dorothy Parker, whose ashes were kept in a filing cabinet there for decades.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-improbable-journey-of-dorothy-parkers-ashes|title=The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker's Ashes|first=Laurie Gwen|last=Shapiro|date=September 4, 2020|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=September 13, 2022|via=newyorker.com}}
Active in New York City politics, O'Dwyer ran for political office several times. In 1948, he narrowly lost an election for the U.S. House of Representatives seat on Manhattan's Upper West Side to the Republican incumbent Jacob K. Javits.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109412276/javits-defeats-odwyer-brother-of/|title=Javits Defeats O'Dwyer, Brother of N.Y. Mayor|date=November 3, 1948|work=Buffalo Evening News|agency=Associated Press|access-date=September 12, 2022|page=58|via=Newspapers.com}}
O'Dwyer's two general election victories took place in city elections. He was elected to the city council from an at-large seat representing all of Manhattan for a term from 1963 to 1965.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109413499/harry-schlegel-dems-victors-gop/|first=Harry|last=Schlegel|title=Dems Victors, GOP Takes 5 Council-at-Large Seats|date=November 5, 1963|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 12, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1965, O'Dwyer ran for mayor but finished a distant fourth in the Democratic primary won by Abe Beame.{{Cite news |last=Desmond |first=James |date=September 15, 1965 |title=Beame's Entire Ticket Is Swept In |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109488115/james-desmond-beames-entire-ticket/ |access-date=September 13, 2022 |work=New York Daily News |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1973, O'Dwyer won election to the position of New York City Council President, which was then one of three citywide elected positions.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109445489/ap-odwyer-captures-ny-council/|title=O'Dwyer Captures N.Y. Council Post|date=November 7, 1973|work=Asbury Park Press|access-date=September 12, 2022|agency=Associated Press|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}} He served in that capacity from 1974 to 1977.
In 1968, in opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and with the support of presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy, O'Dwyer ran in the Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senator from New York and surprised observers with an upset victory.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109420882/harry-schlegel-one-more-surprise/|first=Harry|last=Schlegel|title=One More Surprise: O'Dwyer Wins!|date=June 18, 1968|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 12, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} Again he found his candidacy opposing popular Republican Party incumbent Jacob Javits and again O'Dwyer lost in the general election.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109644976/thomas-poster-javits-wins-third-term/|first=Thomas|last=Poster|title=Javits Wins Third Term Easily|date=November 6, 1968|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=7|via=Newspapers.com}} In 1970, he again ran for Senate, facing Ted Sorensen, Richard Ottinger and Max McCarthy in the Democratic primary, but would finish a close second to Ottinger, who would be defeated by Conservative Party candidate James Buckley.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109644976/thomas-poster-javits-wins-third-term/|first=Gene|last=Spagnoli|title=Ottinger Wins Senate Race On Surge of Upstate Votes|date=June 24, 1970|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=3|via=Newspapers.com}} O'Dwyer was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate that was won by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1976, finishing in fourth in the Democratic primary behind Moynihan, Bella Abzug, and Ramsey Clark.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109645693/election-results-at-a-glance/|title=Election Results at a Glance: Democratic U.S. Senator|date=September 16, 1976|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=25|via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1986, Manhattan Borough President Andrew Stein appointed O'Dwyer the Manhattan Borough Historian.{{cite web |work=Staten Island Advance |title=Our borough historians: The past is their passion |url=http://blog.silive.com/memories_column/2010/07/our_borough_historians_the_past_is_their_passion.html |date=July 18, 2010 |access-date=June 19, 2019}}{{cite web |url=https://digitaltamiment.hosting.nyu.edu/s/irish-america/item/5339|title=Paul O'Dwyer speaks about the 10th Anniversary of the Hunger Strikes |publisher=NYU |date=April 19, 1991 |access-date=September 5, 2020}}
Personal life
O'Dwyer was the youngest of eleven siblings.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109671899/jim-dwyer-family-man-with-passion-for/|first=Jim|last=Dwyer|title=Family man with passion for Family of Man|date=June 25, 1998|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=8|via=Newspapers.com}} His eldest brother was New York City Mayor William O'Dwyer, who was 17 years his senior.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109670867/sidney-kline-a-dream-story-ends/|first=Sidney|last=Kline|title=A Dream Story Ends: O'Dwyer Dies at 74|date=November 25, 1964|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=2|via=Newspapers.com}} The O'Dwyers were maternal uncles of lawyer and activist Frank Durkan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109670867/sidney-kline-a-dream-story-ends/|first=Douglas|last=Martin|title=Frank Durkan: lawyer, defender of Irish nationalists|date=November 20, 2006|work=Ventura County (California) Star|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=B5|via=Newspapers.com}} Paul was married for 45 years to Kathleen (Rohan) O'Dwyer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109646157/jimmy-breslin-a-life-remembered/|first=Jimmy|last=Breslin|title=A Life Remembered: Paul O'Dwyer loses mate of 45 years|date=December 5, 1982|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=6|via=Newspapers.com}} Their son Brian is a New York City lawyer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109671611/david-l-lewis-famous-nameless-pay/|first=David L.|last=Lewis|title=Famous, nameless pay their respect at O'Dwyer's wake|date=June 27, 1998|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=43CNL|via=Newspapers.com}} O'Dwyer's second wife was attorney Patricia (Hanrahan) O'Dwyer.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109646985/she-gets-her-law-degree-60-years-after/|title=She gets her law degree 60 years after O'Dwyer|date=May 26, 1989|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=11|via=Newspapers.com}}
Paul O'Dwyer died six days before his 91st birthday in 1998.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109647269/paul-odwyer-a-vote-for-civil/|title=Paul O'Dwyer: A vote for civil rights|date=June 26, 1998|work=The Guardian (London)|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=A22|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109646709/paul-schwartzman-funeral-rites-for/|first=Paul|last=Schwartzman|title=Funeral rites for Paul O'Dwyer|date=June 28, 1998|work=New York Daily News|access-date=September 16, 2022|page=4|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109646492/jimmy-breslin-a-sad-and-quiet-wake/|first=Jimmy|last=Breslin|title=A Sad and Quiet Wake for Paul O'Dwyer|date=June 28, 1998|work=Newsday|access-date=September 16, 2022|pages=B4, B15|via=Newspapers.com}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/aia_069/ Paul O'Dwyer Papers] at Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University Special Collections
{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=James B. Donovan}}
{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from New York
(Class 3)|years=1968}}
{{s-aft|after=Ramsey Clark}}
{{succession box|title=New York City Council, Manhattan At-large|before=New district|years=1964–1965|after=Carlos Rios}}
{{succession box|title=President of the New York City Council|before=Sanford Garelik|after=Carol Bellamy|years=1974–1977}}
{{s-end}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-edu}}
{{s-bef | before = }}
{{s-ttl | title = Manhattan Borough Historian
| years = 1986–1990}}
{{s-aft | after = Doris Rosenblum }}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odwyer, Paul}}
Category:20th-century New York (state) politicians
Category:20th-century Irish people
Category:Irish emigrants to the United States
Category:New York City Council members
Category:New York (state) Democrats
Category:Politicians from Brooklyn
Category:Politicians from County Mayo
Category:American civil rights lawyers
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:Activists from New York (state)
Category:Catholics from New York (state)