Foster Furcolo

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John Foster Furcolo (July 29, 1911 – July 5, 1995) was a member of the Democratic Party who served as Governor of Massachusetts, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and in other government offices in Massachusetts.

Furcolo was born in New Haven, Connecticut. Before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, from 1942 to 1946, he graduated from Yale University in 1933 and Yale Law School in 1936. In U.S. House election, 1948, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives, and served in the United States Congress from January 3, 1949 to September 30, 1952. In November, 1952 he was elected State Treasurer and Receiver General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a position he held until 1955. An unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1954, Furcolo was elected Governor of Massachusetts in Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 1956, and served from 1957 to 1961.

During his administration, he established a network of regional community colleges throughout the Commonwealth and fought on behalf of increased state worker's salaries, workman's compensation and unemployment benefits.

In 1960, he again ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, then returned to the private practice of law. After leaving office, he was indicted on charges of arranging for a bribe to be paid to members of the Massachusetts executive council. The indictment was eventually dismissed. He worked for several years as an assistant district attorney for the Northern District of Massachusetts. In 1969, he served on the U.S. Attorney General's Advisory Committee on Narcotics, and as an administrative law judge with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission from 1975 to 1989. He is the author of several books, including "Massacre At Katyn", an account of the Soviet massacre of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest during World War II, which he learned of during his tenure on a congressional committee investigating the atrocities.

Furcolo died at the age of 83 on July 5, 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is buried in Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, Massachusetts.

[edit] External links

• Foster Furcolo at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-01-24
• Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography
• Foster Furcolo at Find A Grave

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