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Burke, Thomas A., 1898-1971

LC control no.n 2001064491
Descriptive conventionsrda
Personal name headingBurke, Thomas A., 1898-1971
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Birth date18981030
Death date19711205
Place of birthCleveland, Ohio
Place of deathCleveland, Ohio
AffiliationUnited States. Army
Cleveland (Ohio). Mayor
United States. Congress. Senate
Profession or occupationLawyers
Found inAmerica's town meeting of the air. Radio tributes to F.D.R, 1945: notes compiled by Recording Laboratory, Library of Congress (Mayor Thomas A. Burke, Cleveland)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, via WWW, July 19, 2013 (Burke, Thomas A. (1898-1971); a Senator from Ohio; born in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, October 30, 1898; graduated from Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., in 1920, and Western Reserve University Law School, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1923; during the First World War served in the United States Army; admitted to the bar in 1923 and commenced practice in Cleveland, Ohio; assistant prosecutor of Cuyahoga County, 1930-1936; special counsel to the Ohio attorney general in 1937; director of law for the city of Cleveland, 1942-1945; mayor of Cleveland, 1945-1953; president of the National Conference of Mayors in 1953; appointed on October 12, 1953 as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Robert A. Taft and served from November 10, 1953, to December 2, 1954; unsuccessful candidate for election to the vacancy in 1954; resumed the practice of law; died in Cleveland, Ohio, December 5, 1971)
The Encyclopedia of Celveland History, via WWW, July 19, 2013 (Burke, Thomas A. (Aloysius) (30 Oct. 1898-5 Dec. 1971); served as Cleveland law director and mayor; born in Cleveland to Thomas A. and Lillian McNeil Burke, he received his B.A. from Holy Cross College (1920), and his LL.B. from Western Reserve University School of Law (1923); he was assistant county prosecutor from 1930-1936; and in 1937, the state attorney general appointed him special counsel to prosecute vote fraud; Burke became Cleveland law director under Mayor Frank Lausche in 1941, and mayor when Lausche became governor in 1945; as an independent Democrat, Burke was elected mayor in 1945 and served 4 terms; during his administration, he presided over a large capital-improvement program, including a lakefront airport built on landfill, the first downtown airport in the country; he campaigned for a charter amendment passed in 1951 giving the mayor power to appoint and dismiss the police chief, and helped establish a free municipal parking lot adjacent to the shoreway; when U.S. Sen. Robt. Taft died in 1953, Gov. Lausche appointed Burke to fill Taft's Senate seat; in the 1954 election Burke lost his bid for the seat to Congressman Geo. H. Bender; he retired from politics but continued practicing law as senior partner in the law firm Burke, Haber & Berwick)