Martin, Joseph William

(1884-1968)

   Born in Massachusetts, Joseph Martin began working as a newspaper reporter after leaving high school. He became the owner of a small-town paper in 1908 and an insurance agency in 1918. A Republican, Martin served in the Massachusetts house of representatives from 1911 to 1914 and in the senate from 1915 to 1917. He was executive secretary of the State Republican Committee from 1922 to 1925 and was elected to the federal House of Representatives in 1924, serving from 1925 until 1967. By 1939, Martin was house minority leader, and as an opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, he helped establish the coalition with conservative Democrats. Roosevelt included him with Bruce Barton and Hamilton Fish in the critical mantra “Barton, Martin, and Fish” during the 1940 election campaign. Following the Republican victories in 1946, Martin became speaker of the house in 1947. He supported the Taft-Hartley Act, the National Security Act, and the Marshall Plan. He continued as minority leader in 1949 and became speaker once more from 1953 to 1955. He lost his place as minority leader in 1959 and failed to regain the nomination in the 1966 election.