{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Peter Francis Tague | image = TAGUE, PETER F. HONORABLE LCCN2016859298 (cropped).jpg | state = Massachusetts | district = {{ushr|MA|10|10th}} | term_start = March 4, 1915 | term_end = March 3, 1919 | predecessor = William Francis Murray | successor = John F. Fitzgerald | term_start1 = October 23, 1919 | term_end1 = March 3, 1925 | predecessor1 = John F. Fitzgerald | successor1 = John J. Douglass | office2 = Member of the<br>Massachusetts Senate<br>from the Second Suffolk District | term_start2 = 1899 | term_end2 = 1900 | preceded2 = David B. Shaw | succeeded2 = David B. Shaw | office3 = Member of the<br>Massachusetts House of Representatives | term_start3 = 1897 | term_end3 = 1898 | term_start4 = 1913 | term_end4 = 1914 | office5 = Member of the<br>Boston Common Council | term_start5 = 1894 | term_end5 = 1896 | birth_date = {{birth date|1871|6|4}} | birth_place = Charlestown, Boston, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1941|9|17|1871|6|4}} | death_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | resting_place = Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden, Massachusetts. | party = Democratic | spouse = Josephine T. Fitzgerald | relations = | children = | alma_mater = English High School | occupation = Manufacturing Chemist | profession = | signature = Peter F Tague signature.png | website = | footnotes = <ref name="WWHinSpol1916p30">{{Citation| title =Who's who in State Politics, 1916 | page = 30 | publisher = Practical Politics | location = Boston, MA | year = 1916}}</ref><ref name="OCG1922p47">{{Citation| last=Hess |first =Elmer C.| title =Official Congressional Directory, First ed| page = 47 | publisher = Joint Committee on Printing | location = Washington, DC | date = December 1922}}</ref><ref name="AsouvofMaPolVolVIIp118">{{Citation| last= Bridgman|first=Arthur Milnor| title =A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, Vol. VII | page = 118 | publisher = A. M. Bridgman | location = Stoughton, MA | year = 1898}}</ref><ref name="AsouvofMaPolVolIXp140">{{Citation| last= Bridgman|first=Arthur Milnor| title =A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, Vol. IX | page = 140 | publisher = A. M. Bridgman | location = Stoughton, MA | year = 1900}}</ref><ref>{{Citation| last= Bridgman|first=Arthur Milnor| title =A Souvenir of Massachusetts legislators, Vol. X | page = 140 | publisher = A. M. Bridgman | location = Stoughton, MA | year = 1901}}</ref> }}
'''Peter Francis Tague''' (June 4, 1871 – September 17, 1941) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Boston, Massachusetts.
==Early years== Tague was a son of Peter and Mary (Shaw) Tague, immigrants from Ireland.<ref>US Census, 1880, Boston, Suffolk Co., Mass., page 465B</ref> His father was a cooper.
Tague attended Frothingham Grammar school and English High School in Boston.<ref name="WWHinSpol1916p30"/> He then entered business, supplying blacksmiths and building contractors.
Tague married Josephine T. Fitzgerald<ref name="OCG1922p47"/> on January 31, 1900; they had two sons.<ref name="OCG1922p47"/>
==Business career== Tague was a bookkeeper and Northeast representative of Never Slip Manufacturing Company.<ref name="AsouvofMaPolVolIXp140"/> He later became a manufacturing chemist<ref name="WWHinSpol1916p30"/> and a supplier of chemicals to business.
==Political career== Tague became a member of the Boston Common Council in 1894, at the age of just 23. He served for two years, and then was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in 1897-1898. The following year he was elected a State senator, serving for two years. He gave up politics for a time to concentrate on his business. He ran again in 1913, winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
===U.S. Congress=== Tague next entered national politics, serving as a Democrat in the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1919).
====1918 election==== In 1918, Tague was faced with a major challenge from former Boston mayor John F. Fitzgerald. Tague lost the primary to Fitzgerald by 50 votes.<ref>{{Citation| title =Tague Charges Frauds in Ward 5 Election Board, After Stormy Day, Orders New Hearing This Morning HOW FITZGERALD'S LEAD WAS CUT TO 50 | page = 9 | publisher = The Boston Globe | location = Boston, MA | date = Oct 1, 1918| work =Boston Daily Globe}}</ref> He contested his loss in the primary and appealed to the election commissioners, but he lost that appeal and Fitzgerald was declared the nominee of the Democratic Party.<ref name="WalshWon1918">{{Citation| title =Walsh Won by 18,908. Election of Senator only Democratic Gain in Massachusetts | page = 5 | work = New York Times | location = New York, NY | date = Nov 7, 1918}}</ref> Tague contested the general election as a sticker and write-in candidate and initially he narrowly lost the general election to Fitzgerald,<ref name="WalshWon1918" /><ref>{{Citation| title =Walsh Won by 18,908. Election of Senator only Democratic Gain in Massachusetts | page = 5 | publisher = The Boston Globe | location = Boston, MA | date = Nov 1, 1918| work =Boston Daily Globe}}</ref> by 238 votes.<ref name="New York Times">{{Citation| title =WANTS FITZGERALD OUSTED; House Committee Charges Fraud-- Finds Tague Was Elected | page = 10 | work = New York Times | location = New York, NY | date = October 14, 1919}}</ref>
Tague contested the election result. After the House of Representatives election committee canvassed over 1,300 votes Fitzgerald's plurality went down to 10 votes. After determining that one-third of the votes in three precincts of Boston's Ward 5 were fraudulent, the committee threw out the votes of those precincts. The committee determined that the election had been tainted by illegal registrations and fraud.<ref name="New York Times"/> They determined that Tague won the election by 525 votes.<ref name="New York Times"/> On October 2, 1919, by a vote of 5 to 2, the committee voted to unseat Fitzgerald and to seat Tague.<ref>{{Citation| title =WOULD UNSEAT FITZGERALD; House Elections Committee Upholds Tague of Boston by 5 to 2| page = 6 | work = New York Times | location = New York, NY | date = October 3, 1919}}</ref>
On October 23, 1919, the full House of Representatives unseated Fitzgerald and seated Tague.<ref>{{Citation| title =FITZGERALD IS UNSEATED IN HOUSE House Refuses to Order New Election--Tague Gets Place | page = 10 | publisher = The Hartford Courant | location = Hartford, CT | date = Oct 24, 1919| work =Boston Daily Globe}}</ref>
Tague was reelected to the Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth Congresses, serving from October 23, 1919, to March 3, 1925. Tague is noted for having introduced a bill in Congress in 1921 to investigate the KKK, which then was becoming a powerful force nationwide. He was defeated for reelection in 1924.
===Boston mayoral candidate=== Tague was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Boston in December 1917, finishing fourth in a field of four candidates; the election was won by Andrew James Peters.
== Later years == Following his defeat for Congress in 1924, Tague resumed his business career. He was appointed assessor of Boston in 1930 and chairman of the election commission of Boston the same year. In 1936, he was appointed postmaster and served until his death.
Tague died in Boston on September 17, 1941, at the age of 70. He was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.
==References== <references />
==External links== {{CongBio|T000014}} * {{Find a Grave|6683775}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Massachusetts | district=10 | district_ord=10th | before=William F. Murray | after=John F. Fitzgerald | years= March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1919}} {{US House succession box | state=Massachusetts | district=10 | district_ord=10th | before=John F. Fitzgerald | after=John J. Douglass | years= October 23, 1919 - March 3, 1925}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tague, Peter}} Category:1871 births Category:1941 deaths Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Boston Common Council members Category:Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from Massachusetts Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery (Malden, Massachusetts) Category:19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court Category:20th-century United States representatives