John William McCormack
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John William McCormack (December 21, 1891 - November 22, 1980) was an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts.
He was a member of United States House of Representatives from 1928 until he retired from political life in 1971. McCormack served as House Majority Leader thrice, the first time from 1940 to 1947, the second time from 1949 to 1953, and again from 1955 to 1962. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1961 until 1971. His tenure is not distinguished. In fact, it was marked with an undercurrent of dissent among younger, liberal Democratic members who chomped at the bit for committee assignments and complained that power was centered in a small, old group of Democratic leaders. McCormack also presided over the issue of refusing to seat Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY). The incident resulted in the Speaker being named in a noted United States Supreme Court case, Powell v. McCormack, with Powell prevailing
Between the assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 and the swearing-in of Hubert Humphrey as Vice-President on January 20, 1965, McCormack was the first person in the line of succession for the Presidency, holding the same position the new president, Lyndon Johnson had in relation to Kennedy when vice-president, and he received Secret Service protection. When LBJ died in 1973, McCormack recalled his experiences serving as next-in-line in an article he wrote for The Boston Globe.
In 1983 the University of Massachusetts Boston established the John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs, named in McCormack's honor. In 2003 it was expanded into the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies.
| Preceded by: Sam Rayburn | Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives January 10, 1962 – January 3, 1963; January 9, 1963 – January 3, 1965; January 4, 1965 – January 3, 1967; January 10, 1967 – January 3, 1971 | Succeeded by: Carl Albert |