Dallas Townsend, Sr.
| Dallas S. Townsend, Sr. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Assistant U.S. Attorney General | |
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In office 1953–1960 |
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| Montclair Town Commissioner | |
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In office 1936–1942 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Dallas Selwyn Townsend August 2, 1888 Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | May 27, 1966 (aged 77) Montclair, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Adelaide Elizabeth Henerman (1890-1962) |
| Children | Dallas S. Townsend, Jr., Lewis R. Townsend, Robert H. Townsend, Elizabeth Townsend MacFadden. |
| Residence | Montclair, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | Columbia University, Columbia University Law School |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
Dallas Selwyn Townsend, Sr. (August 2, 1888 – May 27, 1966) was an American Republican Party official who served as the Assistant United States Attorney General during the Eisenhower administration. He was the father of CBS Radio news reporter Dallas Townsend.
Townsend was born August 2, 1888, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the son of Richard Walter Townsend (1859–1937) and Mara Aurora McDuffie Townsend (1866–1906). He had four sisters and brothers, including Ralph Townsend. He was a graduate of Columbia University and Columbia University Law School. In 1927, he defeated José Raúl Capablanca, a Cuban chess player who was World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927, in an exhibition match. He was a partner at Barry, Wainwright, Thacher & Symmers in New York City before starting Townsend & Lewis, also a New York law firm.
Townsend served in the U.S. Army during World War I. He took part in the Meurthe and Moselle campaigns and was discharged as the youngest full colonel in the Army. He returned to active military service during World War II as a full colonel, providing staff service in Washington, Iceland and Hungary. He remained in Hungary for eighteen months after the war to serve as the deputy commander of the American Military Mission, which was part of the Allied Control Commission.
Townsend was elected Town Commissioner in Montclair, New Jersey in 1936. He served as Director of Public Safety. He was re-elected to a second term in 1940. He resigned in 1942 to go on active military duty during World War II.
In 1938, Townsend became a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, running in New Jersey's 12th congressional district. Republicans had held the seat from 1914 until 1936, when Democrat Frank W. Towey, Jr. won it on the coattails of President Franklin Roosevelt's re-election. The seat was viewed as likely to return Republican, and six Republicans sought the nomination in the September 20 primary. His main rival was investment banker Robert Kean, the son of a former United States Senator and the scion of one of America's oldest political families. Kean was endorsed by the "Clean Government" faction of the Essex GOP, while Townsend had the backing of the "Suburban Republican" faction. Townsend lost the Republican Primary to Kean by an exceedingly narrow margin of 713 votes, 13,923 to 13,210. With Townsend's endorsement, Kean defeated Towey in the General Election.
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