Neil Gallagher (American politician)

Cornelius Edward "Neil" Gallagher (March 2, 1921 — October 17, 2018)[1] was an American Democratic Party politician who represented New Jersey's 13th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 until 1973.

This article is about the United States Congressman. For the Alberta politician of the same name, see Cornelius Gallagher (Canadian politician).
Cornelius Gallagher
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 13th district
In office
January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1973
Preceded byAlfred Sieminski
Succeeded byDominick V. Daniels (Redistricting)
Personal details
Born
Cornelius Edward Gallagher

(1921-03-02)March 2, 1921
Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedOctober 17, 2018(2018-10-17) (aged 97)
Monroe Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseClaire
Children4
EducationSeton Hall University (BA, LLB)
New York University

Early years

Gallagher was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father, a police officer, died when he was eight. He began working at a young age as a newsboy, and later a soda jerk.[2] He attended St. Mary's School and Bayonne High School and graduated from John Marshall College in 1946; in 1945 and 1946 he was a member of the faculty of Rutgers University. He also graduated from John Marshall Law School with an LL.B. in 1948 (both now part of Seton Hall University, and engaged in additional studies at New York University in 1948 and 1949. Gallagher was admitted to the bar in 1949.

Army

During World War II, Gallagher commanded an infantry rifle company in General George S. Patton's Third Army in Europe. He served from September 1941 and was discharged as a captain in November 1946. During the Korean War, he served one year.[3]

Career

Gallagher was appointed a director of the Broadway National Bank. He was elected to the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1953, a post he held until resigning in 1956, when he was appointed commissioner of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Gallagher was also a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1952, 1956 and 1960.

He was elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-sixth through Ninety-second Congresses (January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1973). In Congress, he served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on Government Operations.[2]

Gallagher subsequently became vice president of Baron/Canning International in New York City, and was a resident of the Columbia section of Knowlton Township, New Jersey.

Conflict with J. Edgar Hoover

As a congressman, Gallagher chaired the Invasion of Privacy Subcommittee.[4] Gallagher was a critic of the tactics of Federal Bureau of Investigation Director J. Edgar Hoover and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Gallagher was approached by attorney Roy Cohn, who asked him on behalf of Hoover to hold hearings which would shift the blame for government surveillance from Hoover to Kennedy. Gallagher refused.[5]

Media accounts then surfaced, including Life magazine,[4] which contained alleged leaked material from FBI wiretaps suggesting that Gallagher was connected to the mafia, Gallagher accused Hoover of fabricating the stories to hound him from public life.[6][7] Cohn met with Gallagher again, demanding on Hoover's behalf that he resign or face further allegations.[5]

Gallagher was accused of evading payment of $74,000 in federal income taxes in 1966. He pled guilty in 1972 to tax evasion and perjury, sentenced to two years in prison and fined $10,000.[4][8]

A book detailing Gallagher's side of the story was published in 2003.[9]

Death

Gallagher died on October 17, 2018, at the age of 97.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Cornelius Gallagher". Newbaker Funeral Home. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  2. "Man in the News". New York Times. April 20, 1972. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  3. Roberts, Sam (2018-10-22). "Cornelius E. Gallagher, 7-Term New Jersey Congressman, Dies at 97". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  4. Biographical sketch, congressional archives, University of Oklahoma Archived 2013-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Summers, Anthony, Official and Confidential: the Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, Open Road Media, Jan 17, 2012
  6. MafiaNJ.com presents La Cosa Nostra, State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation 1989 Report, GET NJ, Jersey City N.J. p. 38.
  7. Gentry, Curt, J. Edgar Hoover, the Man and his Secrets, W. W. Norton & Company, Feb 17, 2001
  8. "Gallagher Gets 2 Years and $10,000 Fine". The New York Times. 16 June 1973.
  9. Felber, Ron (2003). The Privacy War: One Congressman, J. Edgar Hoover and the Fight for the Fourth Amendment. Montvale, NJ: Croce Publishing Group, LLC. ISBN 0-9719538-9-9.
  10. "Cornelius Gallagher, former New Jersey congressman, dies at 97". New Jersey Globe. October 17, 2018. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
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