{{Short description|American politician (1857–1912)}} {{other people|Richard Connell}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Richard E. Connell.jpg | image_upright = 1.1 | caption = Connell {{circa|1911}} | alt = A photograph of Richard Edward Connell, taken circa 1911. | state = New York | district = 21st | term_start = March 4, 1911 | term_end = October 30, 1912 | predecessor = Hamilton Fish II | successor = Henry George Jr. | prior_term = | birth_name = Richard Edward Connell | birth_date = November 6, 1857 | birth_place = Poughkeepsie, New York, US | death_date = October 30, 1912 | death_place = Poughkeepsie, New York, US | resting_place = St. Peter's Cemetery | resting_place_coordinates = | party = Democratic | spouse = Mary Miller | children = 4, including Richard }}
'''Richard Edward Connell Sr.''' (November 6, 1857 – October 30, 1912) was an American newspaperman and politician who served one term as a United States representative from New York from March 4, 1911, until his death on October 30, 1912.
==Early life== Richard Edward Connell was born in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York, to Richard and Ann Connell ({{nee}} Phelan), who had immigrated to New York from Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1846.<ref name="directory">{{cite book|title=Official Congressional Directory|date=1911|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=71|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5JNAQAAMAAJ&q=richard+connell+poughkeepsie&pg=PA71|accessdate=28 February 2018}}</ref> Connell, a Catholic,<ref name="daniels">{{cite book|last1=Daniels|first1=Roger|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: Road to the New Deal, 1882-1939|date=2015|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=9780252097621|page=24|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KJWJCgAAQBAJ&q=connell&pg=PT48|accessdate=28 February 2018}}</ref> attended St. Peter's parochial school and the public schools of Poughkeepsie until he was 13 years old when he dropped out and entered the workforce to support his siblings and widowed mother. He worked various odd jobs including for the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railway and Hudson River State Hospital. He was eventually hired as a reporter for the Poughkeepsie ''News-Press'' before rising to managing editor.<ref name="serial">{{cite book|title=United States Congressional Serial Set|date=1914|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNaQxh7RG-4C&q=richard+e.+connell+catholic&pg=RA2-PA43|accessdate=28 February 2018}}</ref>{{rp|41}}
==Political career== Connell first rose to local political prominence in 1884 when he began giving speeches in support of presidential candidate Grover Cleveland.<ref name="directory" /> He was a perennially unsuccessful candidate in the 19th century. He failed to be elected over John H. Ketcham to the 55th United States Congress in 1896 or to the New York State Assembly in 1898 and 1900.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|42}} After repeated failures, Connell attempted to curry favor with schoolchildren in the hopes that they would vote for him when they came of age.<ref name="ward">{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|title=A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, 1905-1928|date=2014|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780804173360|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VpVzAwAAQBAJ&q=connell&pg=PT169|accessdate=28 February 2018}}</ref>
Between his campaigns, Connell served as police commissioner of Poughkeepsie for three years<ref name="serial" />{{rp|42}} beginning in 1892, Dutchess County's inheritance tax appraiser from 1907 to 1909 and delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1900 and 1904.<ref name="directory" />
In 1910, Connell and Hyde Park resident Franklin D. Roosevelt embarked on a joint campaign in the Hudson Valley in Roosevelt's Maxwell automobile; Connell was running for the U.S. House of Representatives and Roosevelt for the New York State Senate.<ref name="daniels" /> From Connell, Roosevelt would borrow the opening phrase with which he would begin many speeches for the rest of his career: "My friends."<ref name="ward" /> Connell defeated the incumbent, Republican Hamilton Fish II, by 517 votes to win election to the 62nd United States Congress.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|42}}
In his brief time in Congress, Connell collaborated with Representative Isaac R. Sherwood in championing a successful Civil War veterans' pension bill. He had been nominated in 1912 as the Democratic candidate for reelection to the 63rd United States Congress.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|42}}
==Personal life and death== thumb|right|Connell's grave at St. Peter's Cemetery in Poughkeepsie Connell and his wife Mary ({{nee}} Miller) had four children, Mary, Anne, Catherine, and Richard.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|39}} The younger Richard, who was his father's secretary during sessions of Congress,<ref name="serial" />{{rp|43}} would go on to become an accomplished writer best known for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game."
Connell was a member of the Royal Arcanum, Knights of Columbus and Order of Elks.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|43}}
Connell spent the night of October 29, 1912 making speeches in Putnam County<ref name="serial" />{{rp|41}} and returned home to Poughkeepsie around 2:00 a.m.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|39}} When he did not get out of bed the following morning for an 8:00 a.m. car which was hired to bring him to meet constituents in Middletown, his wife found him unresponsive.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|39–40}} He had died in his sleep of heart disease.<ref name="serial" />{{rp|40}}
He is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery in Poughkeepsie.
==Electoral history== {{Election box begin no change | title=New York's 18th congressional district election, 1896<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Campaigns - NY District 18 Race - Nov 03, 1896 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=731270 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change| |party = Republican Party (United States) |candidate = John H. Ketcham |votes = 25,531 |percentage = 60.86 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = Richard E. Connell |votes = 15,956 |percentage = 38.04 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = National Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = Henry Metcalf |votes = 462 |percentage = 1.1 }} {{Election box total no change | votes = 41,949 | percentage = 100.00 }} {{Election box hold with party link no swing |winner = Republican Party (United States) }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin no change | title=1904 New York State Assembly election, Dutchess County 2<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Campaigns - NY Assembly - Dutchess 2 Race - Nov 08, 1904 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=791317 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change| |party = New York Republican Party |candidate = Augustus B. Gray |votes = 5,491 |percentage = 52.61 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = New York Democratic Party |candidate = Richard E. Connell |votes = 4,761 |percentage = 45.64 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = Prohibition Party |candidate = Corydon Wheeler |votes = 183 |percentage = 1.75 }} {{Election box total no change | votes = 10,435 | percentage = 100.00 }} {{Election box gain with party link no swing |winner = New York Republican Party |loser = New York Democratic Party }} {{Election box end}}
{{Election box begin no change | title=New York's 21st congressional district election, 1910<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Campaigns - NY District 21 Race - Nov 08, 1910 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=242285 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com |access-date=20 November 2024}}</ref>}} {{Election box winning candidate with party link no change| |party = Democratic Party (United States) |candidate = Richard E. Connell |votes = 18,832 |percentage = 49.79 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = Republican Party (United States) |candidate = Hamilton Fish II (incumbent) |votes = 18,315 |percentage = 48.42 }} {{Election box candidate with party link no change| |party = Socialist Party of America |candidate = David F. Slater |votes = 677 |percentage = 1.79 }} {{Election box total no change | votes = 37,824 | percentage = 100.00 }} {{Election box gain with party link no swing |winner = Democratic Party (United States) |loser = Republican Party (United States)}} {{Election box end}}
==See also== * List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1900–1949)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{CongBio|C000686}} * [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t4cn77t3m;view=1up;seq=5 Richard E. Connell, late a representative from New York, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1914]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=New York| district=21 | district_ord=21st | before=Hamilton Fish II | after= Henry George Jr. | years=1911–1912 }} {{s-end}} {{USCongRep-start|congresses= 62nd United States Congress |state=New York}} {{USCongRep/NY/62}} {{USCongRep-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connell, Richard}}
Category:1857 births Category:1912 deaths Category:19th-century New York (state) politicians Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Democratic Party United States representatives from New York (state) Category:Politicians from Poughkeepsie, New York Category:Catholics from New York (state) Category:20th-century United States representatives