Joseph Arthur Padway

{{Short description|American labor lawyer and politician (1891–1947)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Joseph A. Padway 1924.png | caption = Padway {{circa}} 1924 | office = Judge of the Milwaukee Civil Court | appointer = John J. Blaine | term_start = January 1, 1926 | term_end = December 1, 1926 | predecessor = | successor = | appointer1 = John J. Blaine | term_start1 = January 1, 1924 | term_end1 = January 5, 1925 | predecessor1 = | successor1 = | state2 = Wisconsin | state_senate2 = Wisconsin | district2 = 6th | term_start2 = January 5, 1925 | term_end2 = January 1, 1926 | predecessor2 = Joseph J. Hirsch | successor2 = Alex C. Ruffing | birth_date = July 25, 1891 | birth_place = Leeds, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1947|10|09|1891|07|25}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Labor lawyer|Politician}} | party = Socialist {{small|(before 1927)}}<br />Progressive {{small|(after 1927)}} }} '''Joseph Arthur Padway''' (July 25, 1891 – October 9, 1947) was an American labor lawyer and politician.

== Biography == thumb|left|Padway speaking before the Senate Labor Committee, 1939 Born in Leeds, England on July 25, 1891, but went to Milwaukee in 1905. Admitted to the State Bar of Wisconsin in 1912. He was appointed legal counsel for the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor three years later. He married Lydia Paetow on March 9, 1912. He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate on the Socialist Party of America ticket and served in the 1925 session of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Padway was twice appointed to the Milwaukee civil court bench (1924, 1926). After 1927 he was associated with the Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin.

Padway played a major role in shaping Wisconsin labor legislation between 1915 and 1935. Upon his appointment as the first general counsel of the American Federation of Labor, he moved to Washington where he served until his death. In this capacity, he successfully defended the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) before the United States Supreme Court. He died in San Francisco, California on October 9, 1947.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1473&keyword=padway |title=Padway, Joseph Arthur 1891 - 1947 |access-date=2008-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611110201/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/dictionary/index.asp?action=view&term_id=1473&keyword=padway |archive-date=2011-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070806033451/http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/arch/findaids/mss006.htm The Papers of Joseph Arthur Padway, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee] *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/WI/jewish.html The Political Graveyard]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padway, Joseph Arthur}} Category:1891 births Category:1947 deaths Category:American trade union leaders Category:Politicians from Leeds Category:Lawyers from Leeds Category:Politicians from Milwaukee Category:Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Category:Wisconsin Progressives (1924) Category:Wisconsin state senators Category:British emigrants to the United States Category:American labor lawyers Category:20th-century Wisconsin state court judges Category:Wisconsin State Federation of Labor people Category:20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature Category:20th-century American trade unionists