Representative Joseph Patrick Monaghan - Contact Information

Joseph Patrick Monaghan (March 26, 1906 – July 4, 1985) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician who represented Montana in the United States House of Representatives from 1933 to 1937. He was born in Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana, where he spent his early years in a community shaped by mining and organized labor. Growing up in Butte during the early twentieth century, Monaghan was exposed to the economic and social issues that would later inform his public service and political outlook.

Monaghan was educated in the public schools of Butte and went on to pursue legal studies. He attended law school and prepared for a career in the legal profession, gaining admission to the bar and commencing practice in Montana. Establishing himself as an attorney in his hometown, he built a professional reputation at a relatively young age, which helped lay the groundwork for his entry into electoral politics during a period of national economic crisis.

In 1932, amid the Great Depression and the rise of the New Deal coalition, Monaghan was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Montana. He took office on March 4, 1933, at the outset of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, and served two terms, remaining in Congress until January 3, 1937. As a member of the House of Representatives, Monaghan participated in the legislative process during a significant period in American history, when Congress enacted sweeping economic and social reforms in response to the Depression. He represented the interests of his Montana constituents within this broader national context, contributing to the work of the Democratic majority as it advanced New Deal legislation.

A member of the Democratic Party throughout his congressional service, Monaghan chose not to seek reelection to the House in 1936. Instead, he made an ambitious bid for higher office, challenging incumbent Democratic United States Senator James E. Murray in the Democratic primary. After losing the primary to Murray, Monaghan continued his campaign for the Senate as an independent candidate in the general election. In that three-way contest, Murray was reelected with 55 percent of the vote, while Republican T. O. Larsen received 27 percent and Monaghan, running independently, received 18 percent. With this defeat, Monaghan’s elective political career effectively came to an end at the age of 30.

Following his departure from Congress in January 1937, Monaghan returned to Montana and resumed his law practice, reestablishing himself in the legal profession after his brief but notable tenure in national office. For many years he remained out of elective politics, focusing on his work as an attorney and on private life. His experience as a former congressman during the New Deal era, however, continued to mark him as a figure of public interest in Montana’s political history.

Monaghan made one significant attempt to reenter public office in 1964, nearly three decades after leaving the House. That year he sought the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate in Montana, challenging Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield in the Democratic primary. Monaghan was unsuccessful in this effort, and Mansfield retained both the nomination and the seat. After this campaign, Monaghan did not again seek major public office, and he continued his life and work outside the electoral arena.

Joseph Patrick Monaghan died on July 4, 1985. His career, though relatively brief in elected office, placed him at the center of a transformative period in American governance, and his service from 1933 to 1937 linked Montana’s representation in Congress to the formative years of the New Deal.