Melvin Joseph MAAS, Congress, MN (1898-1964)

MAAS Melvin Joseph , a Representative from Minnesota; born in Duluth, Minn., May 14, 1898; moved with his parents to St. Paul, Minn., in 1898; educated in the public schools; was graduated from St. Thomas College at St. Paul in 1919; attended the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis; engaged in the insurance business; during the First World War served in the aviation branch of the Marine Corps in 1918 and 1919; officer in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1925 and retired with rank of major general August 1, 1952; elected as a Republican to the Seventieth, Seventy-first, and Seventy-second Congresses (March 4, 1927-March 3, 1933); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1932; received the Carnegie Silver Medal for disarming an intruder on the House Floor on December 13, 1932; elected to the Seventy-fourth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1945); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944 to the Seventy-ninth Congress; served in the South Pacific as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps 1942-1945, while still a Member of Congress; special adviser to the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1946; assistant to the chairman of the board of the Sperry Corporation, New York City, 1947-1951; became a member of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped in 1949 and served as chairman 1954-1964; had been stricken with total blindness in August 1951; was a resident of Chevy Chase, Md., until his death in Bethesda, Md., April 13, 1964; interment in Arlington National Cemetery.

Bibliography

Zehnpfennig, Gladys. Melvin J. Maas: Gallant Man of Action. Minneapolis: T. S. Denison, [1967].

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present