Vito Marcantonio
Vito Anthony Marcantonio (December 10 1902-August 9 1954) was an American lawyer and politician. Though originally a member of the United States Republican Party, he later switched to the American Labor Party and became one of the most successful American politicians not belonging to either the Republican Party or the United States Democratic Party since the 1800s.
Early Life
Vito Marcantonio, an Italian-American was born in New York City and attended the public schools there. He graduated from New York University with a law degree, and began practicing law. He was an assistant United States district attorney from 1930 until 1931.
Congressional Career
Marcantonio was first elected to the United States House of Representatives from New York in 1934 as a Republican. He served in the House from 1935 until 1937 and was defeated for reelection in 1936. In either 1937 or 1938 he became a member of the American Labor Party. He was elected to the House again from New York in 1938, and served this time for six terms, from 1939 to 1951 being reelected in the elections of 1940, 1942, 1944, 1946, and 1948. In 1949 he ran for mayor of New York City on the American Labor Party ticket, but was defeated. In 1950 he was defeated by Democrat James Donovan, after a particularly vociferous campaign against him because of his refusal to vote for American participation in the Korean War. Donovan had the support of the Democratic, Republican, and Liberal Parties in that election.
Political Ideology and Relationship with Other Political Parties and Movements
Marcantonio believed that party loyalty was less important than voting his conscience. He was sympathetic to socialist and communist parties, as well as labor unions and was investigated by the FBI as many were suspicious of him because of his sympathy with Communism. In 1940, he helped form the American Peace Mobilization to keep the U.S. from participating in World War II, and served as its vice-chair. Marcantonio represented a congressional district in East Harlem, New York City, which had many residents of Italian and Puerto Rican origin. He supported the goals of the Puerto Ricans and advocated for the rights of the workers and the poor. He was so popular in that district that he sometimes won the Democratic and Republican primaries, as well as the American Labor Party primaries. Marcantonio was usually the only American Laborite congressman, though Leo Isacson who served in Congress from 1948 to 1949, after winning a special election but being defeated in a general election, was also an American Laborite. Because of the smallness of the party, Marcantonio never held a congressional committee chairmanship. After his defeat in 1950, the party soon fell apart. At the time of his death in 1954, he was running for Congress as the candidate of a newly formed third party. Marcantonio is widely believed to be the most liberal member of Congress of his time, and has often been called a Radical. He did not generally support American involvement in wars. Though he did not vote against involvement in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he did not support it earlier, and he did not support American involvement in the Korean War.
Later Life
After his defeat in mayoral and congressional elections, Marcantonio continued to practice law. It was his law practice, maintained while in Congress, that gave him the money to substantially self-finance his political campaigns. At first he practiced in Washington, D.C but he soon returned to New York City, where he died.
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