J. Parnell Thomas
| J. Parnell Thomas | |
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Thomas in January 1939
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 7th district |
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In office January 3, 1937 – January 2, 1950 |
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| Preceded by | Randolph Perkins |
| Succeeded by | William B. Widnall |
| Member of the New Jersey General Assembly | |
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In office 1935 |
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| Chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities | |
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In office 1947–1948 |
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| Preceded by | Edward J. Hart |
| Succeeded by | John Stephens Wood |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
John Parnell Feeney, Jr. January 16, 1895 Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Died | November 19, 1970 (aged 75) St. Petersburg, Florida |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania (1917) |
John Parnell Thomas (January 16, 1895 – November 19, 1970) was a and politician. He was elected to seven terms as a U.S. Representative from New Jersey. He was later a convicted criminal who served nine months in federal prison for corruption.
Born as John Parnell Feeney, Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey, he changed his name in 1919 to John Parnell Thomas. Raised Catholic, he later became an Episcopalian.
After graduating from high school, he went on to study at the University of Pennsylvania. When the United States joined World War I in 1917, he served overseas with the United States Army. Following his discharge from the military in 1919, Thomas worked in the investment securities and insurance business in New York City for the next eighteen years.
He entered Allendale, New Jersey, municipal politics in 1925 and was elected councilman and then mayor of Allendale from 1926 to 1930. He was elected to a two-year term to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1935. In 1936 was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican Party Representative from New Jersey's 7th congressional district, filling the vacancy left by the death of Randolph Perkins. He would be re-elected six times.
As a U.S. Congressman, Thomas was a staunch conservative opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, claiming the President's legislative agenda had "sabotaged the capitalist system." Thomas opposed government support for the Federal Theatre Project declaring that "practically every play presented under the auspices of the Project is sheer propaganda for Communism or the New Deal."
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