O'Dwyer, Paul, 1907-1998

Lawyer.

From the description of Reminiscences of Paul O'Dwyer : oral history, 1962. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 86147572

From the description of Papers, 1932-1969, 1945-1949 (bulk). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122516916

Paul O'Dwyer was born in Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland. Like his brother, William O'Dwyer, who was New York City Mayor from 1946 to 1950, Paul was also active in New York's local politics. Paul O'Dwyer, who worked as an attorney at the law firm O'Dwyer and Bernstein, was a vice-president and member of the Executive Board of the FDR-Woodrow Wilson Democratic Club and a member of the Advisory Board of the New York Committee for Kennedy and Johnson in 1960. He also participated in associations concerned with social issues including being New York Chairman of President Kennedy's Program of Aid to the Aged through social security in 1962, as appointed Chairman of the Medicare Campaign in New York also in 1962, and as a member of the Board of Children's Welfare, and Chairman of the Law Committee for Justice in Palestine from 1946 to 1947.

He founded the liberal New Democratic Coalition and was founder, first president and in 1963, Executive Director of the Irish Institute.

In 1948, he won the Democratic Assembly Primary and ran for Congress. In 1963, his Councilman-at-large campaign approach was to "attack discrimination and poverty." In 1965, he joined the Mayoral race. He was outraged at the $1.50 minimum wage in 1966 and was one of the first politicians to oppose the Vietnam War. Paul O'Dwyer, who has a strong civil rights background, was nominated as candidate of the Democratic Party for U.S. Senate in 1968. In 1973, he was elected City Council President for New York City and served until 1977. In 1986, he was appointed borough historian of Manhattan and in 1990, he was appointed Commissioner of the New York City Commission for the United Nations and Consular Corps., which acts as a liaison between the Mayor and members of the U.N. community and Consular Corps.

From the description of Papers, 1935-1977, (bulk 1963-1977). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122578024