View source for Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.

{{short description|American politician (1903–1987)}}
{{about||his son, also mayor of Baltimore|Thomas D'Alesandro III}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2017}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.jpg
| caption             = D'Alesandro in 1939
| office              = 41st [[List of mayors of Baltimore|Mayor of Baltimore]]
| term_start          = May 16, 1947
| term_end            = May 16, 1959
| predecessor         = [[Theodore McKeldin]]
| successor           = [[J. Harold Grady]]
| state1              = [[Maryland]]
| district1           = {{ushr|MD|3|3rd}}
| term_start1         = January 3, 1939
| term_end1           = May 16, 1947
| predecessor1        = [[Vincent Luke Palmisano|Vincent Palmisano]]
| successor1          = [[Edward Garmatz]]
| state_delegate2     = Maryland
| district2           = [[Baltimore|Baltimore City]]'s 1st
| term_start2         = 1926
| term_end2           = 1933
| birth_name          = Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro Jr.
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1903|8|1}}
| birth_place         = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1987|8|23|1903|8|1}}
| death_place         = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = Annunciata Lombardi
| children            = 6, including [[Thomas D'Alesandro III|Thomas III]], [[Nancy Pelosi]]
}}

'''Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro Jr.''' (August 1, 1903 – August 23, 1987) was an American politician who served as the 41st [[List of mayors of Baltimore|mayor]] of [[Baltimore]] from 1947 to 1959. A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he previously represented {{ushr|MD|3}} in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1939 until 1947. He was known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the patriarch of the D'Alesandro [[political family]], which includes [[Nancy Pelosi]], the 52nd [[speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]; and [[Thomas D'Alesandro III]], the 44th mayor of Baltimore.

==Early life==
D'Alesandro was born in Baltimore on August 1, 1903.  He was the son of Maria Antonia Petronilla (née Foppiani) and Tommaso F. D'Alessandro. His father was born in [[Montenerodomo]], [[Abruzzo]], Italy, and his mother was born in Baltimore, to parents from [[Genoa]], [[Liguria]], Italy.<ref>Stated on ''[[Finding Your Roots]]'', January 12, 2021</ref> D'Alesandro attended [[Calvert Hall College High School|Calvert Business College]] in Baltimore. Before beginning his political career, he worked as an insurance and real estate broker.<ref name="history.house.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/D/D-ALESANDRO,-Thomas,-Jr--(D000007)/|title=D'ALESANDRO, Thomas, Jr. {{!}} US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives|website=history.house.gov|language=en|access-date=2019-01-24}}</ref>

==Career==
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Attends Swearing-In of Thomas D'Alesandro.jpg|thumb|right|D'Alesandro being sworn in as a member of the Renegotiation Board in 1961]]

D'Alesandro served as a member of the [[Maryland House of Delegates|Maryland State House of Delegates]] from 1926 to 1933.  After serving in [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], D'Alesandro was then appointed as General Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue, a post in which he served during 1933–1934. He then was elected to serve on the [[Baltimore City Council]] from 1935 to 1938.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

D'Alesandro was then elected to the [[76th United States Congress|76th Congress]] and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1939, until he resigned on May 16, 1947. While in Congress, D'Alesandro strongly supported the [[Bergson Group#Bergson Group|Bergson Group]], a "[[political action committee]] set up to challenge the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Roosevelt Administration's]] policies on the [[Jewish refugees|Jewish refugee issue]] during the [[Holocaust]], and later lobbied against [[Mandate for Palestine|British control of Palestine]]" despite his equally strong support for Roosevelt's other policies.<ref>Medoff, Rafael, [https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Pelosis-father-and-the-Holocaust "Pelosi's father and the Holocaust"]. ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''.  April 11, 2007.  April 16, 2007.</ref>

Following his service in Congress he was the Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years from May 1947 to May 1959.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/08/24/baltimore-political-patriarch-thomas-j-dalesandro-jr-dies/5a3118d9-ea15-43c1-9433-cfe8f68b99e4/ |title=BALTIMORE POLITICAL PATRIARCH THOMAS J. D'ALESANDRO JR. DIES|first=Paul W.|last=Valentine|date=August 24, 1987|access-date=December 18, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> D'Alesandro served on the Federal Renegotiation Board from 1961 to 1969 after being appointed by President [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref name="history.house.gov"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/078a/JFKPOF-078a-006 |title=Federal Renegotiation Board |publisher=JFK Library |access-date=2019-01-24}}</ref>  On September 21, 1966, President Lyndon Baines Johnson's assistant Mildred Stegall requested a routine FBI name check on D'Alesandro.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/fbi-launched-urgent-investigation-nancy-pelosis-father-behest-jfk |title=Amid Capitol riot, FBI released files from Kennedy-era investigation into Nancy Pelosi's father|date=2021-02-23}}</ref>  FBI records released on [[2021 United States Capitol attack|January 6, 2021]] showed D'Alesandro had been the subject of a Special Inquiry investigation in March and April 1961, revealing numerous allegations of association with criminals in Baltimore.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/thomas-dalesandro-jr/thomas-d-alesandro-jr.-part-01-of-01/view |title=Thomas D' Alesandro Jr. Part 01 of 01|publisher = FBI Records: The Vault &mdash; The Vault|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210108163647/https://vault.fbi.gov/thomas-dalesandro-jr/thomas-d-alesandro-jr.-part-01-of-01/view|archive-date = January 8, 2021|url-status = live}}</ref>

===Political campaigns===
D'Alesandro was a strong contender for [[Governor of Maryland]] in [[1954 Maryland gubernatorial election|1954]], but dropped out after being implicated in receiving undeclared money from Dominic Piracci, a parking garage owner convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090814124231/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860626,00.html "The Little World of Tommy"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. April 26, 1954.</ref> Piracci was the father of Margie Piracci D'Alesandro, the wife of D'Alesandro's oldest son and namesake [[Thomas D'Alesandro III]]. Mayor D'Alesandro was later exonerated and never indicted.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

After withdrawing, D'Alesandro tacitly supported [[University of Maryland]] President [[Curley Byrd]], who lost, 54.5% to 45.5%, to [[Theodore McKeldin]], the Republican incumbent and D'Alesandro's predecessor as Mayor of Baltimore.

[[1958 United States Senate election in Maryland|In 1958]], D'Alesandro ran for the [[United States Senate]] in a bid to defeat [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] incumbent [[J. Glenn Beall]]. D'Alesandro first had to spend money and time defeating perennial candidate/contractor [[George P. Mahoney]] in the Democratic primary. D'Alesandro then ran a strong campaign, losing to Beall in a close race, the first election D'Alesandro had ever lost.<ref name="auto" />

[[1959 Baltimore mayoral election|In 1959]], D'Alesandro was defeated in a bid for another term for Mayor of Baltimore by [[J. Harold Grady]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2002/01/10/j-harold-grady-mayor-chief-judge-dies-at-84/ |title=J. Harold Grady, mayor, chief judge, dies at 84 |website=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=December 18, 2017}}</ref>

===Retrospective analysis===
In 2017, in an effort to counter D'Alesandro's daughter Nancy's efforts to remove statues of Confederate figures from the halls of Congress, [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] commentators noted that in 1948, D'Alesandro dedicated the [[Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee Monument]] in his capacity as Mayor of Baltimore, along with the then-Governor of Maryland, [[William Preston Lane Jr.]]<ref name="nypostnancypelosisdadhelpededicate">{{cite news|last1=Singman|first1=Brooke|title=Nancy Pelosi's dad helped dedicate Confederate statue|url=https://nypost.com/2017/08/24/nancy-pelosis-dad-helped-dedicate-confederate-statue/ |access-date=August 26, 2017 |work=New York Post |date=August 24, 2017}}</ref> His son, [[Thomas D'Alesandro III]], who later served as Mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971, said about his father "His whole life was politics. He was not what you would call a flaming [[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]], but he was a [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]]."<ref name="auto"/>

==Personal life==
D'Alesandro was married to Annunciata M. ("Nancy") Lombardi (1909–1995).<ref>''Baltimore Sun'', October 1, 1928, p. 20.</ref> Together, the couple had six children, five sons and a daughter:

* [[Thomas D'Alesandro III|Thomas Ludwig John D'Alesandro III]] (1929–2019), attorney and politician who served as the [[List of mayors of Baltimore|mayor of Baltimore]] from 1967 to 1971.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Bart |date=October 20, 2019 |title=Thomas D'Alesandro III, Maryland political prince who gave up the throne, dies at 90 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/thomas-dalesandro-iii-maryland-political-prince-who-gave-up-the-throne-dies-at-90/2019/10/20/7c28ca0a-3f75-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916044059/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/thomas-dalesandro-iii-maryland-political-prince-who-gave-up-the-throne-dies-at-90/2019/10/20/7c28ca0a-3f75-11e9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html |archive-date=September 16, 2021 |access-date=October 21, 2019 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>
* Nicholas M. D'Alesandro (1930–1934)
* Franklin Delano Roosevelt D'Alesandro (1933–2007), who also served in the U.S. Army.
* Hector Joseph D'Alesandro (1935–1995)
* Joseph Thomas D'Alesandro (1937–2004)
* [[Nancy Pelosi|Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi]] (born 1940), politician who served as the [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|speaker of the House]] from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023; she is the first woman elected Speaker and the first woman in American history to lead a major political party in either chamber of [[United States Congress|Congress]].<ref name="PelosiCNNFacts">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Nancy Pelosi Fast Facts |url=https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/us/nancy-pelosi-fast-facts/index.html |website=CNN |date=August 2, 2022 |access-date=August 3, 2022}}</ref>

D'Alesandro did not speak Italian but spoke [[Yiddish]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkngMZJDhlc&list=TLPQMjQwNzIwMjTd-ErEfOM7Gg&index=3 |title=Nancy Pelosi On Trump & Going Down In History As One Of The Greatest Speakers Ever |date=2024-06-16 |last=Leading |access-date=2024-07-24 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

Two months after being present at Nancy's swearing in as a congresswoman, D'Alesandro died on August 23, 1987, in Baltimore, Maryland.

==See also==
*[[1947 Baltimore mayoral election]]
*[[1951 Baltimore mayoral election]]
*[[1955 Baltimore mayoral election]]
* [[Thomas D'Alesandro Stadium]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Biographical Directory of Congress|D000007}}
* [https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002000/002004/html/2004bio.html Biography] Provided by the Baltimore City Government
* {{Find a Grave|7530614}}
* {{cite news|title=T. D'Alesandro Jr., a Baltimore Mayor, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/24/obituaries/t-d-alesandro-jr-a-baltimore-mayor-dies.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 24, 1987}}
* [https://vault.fbi.gov/thomas-dalesandro-jr/thomas-d-alesandro-jr.-part-01-of-01/view Thomas D' Alesandro Jr. FBI Files]

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Vincent Luke Palmisano|Vincent Palmisano]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States Representatives from Maryland|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Maryland's 3rd congressional district]]|years=1939–1947}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Edward Garmatz]]}}
|-
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Theodore McKeldin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of mayors of Baltimore|Mayor of Baltimore]]|years=1947–1959}}
{{s-aft|after=[[J. Harold Grady]]}}
|-
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George P. Mahoney]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[United States Senator|U.S. Senator]] from [[Maryland]]<br>([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 1]])|years=[[1958 United States Senate election in Maryland|1958]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Joseph Tydings]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{BaltimoreMayors}}
{{Nancy Pelosi}}
{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 76th–80th [[United States Congress]]es |state=[[Maryland]]}}
{{USCongRep/MD/76}}
{{USCongRep/MD/77}}
{{USCongRep/MD/78}}
{{USCongRep/MD/79}}
{{USCongRep/MD/80}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Alesandro, Thomas Jr.}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland]]
[[Category:Italian-American culture in Baltimore]]
[[Category:Mayors of Baltimore]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates]]
[[Category:Pelosi family]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly]]
[[Category:People of Abruzzese descent]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]