Matthew Mansfield Neely was born on November 9, 1874, and died on January 18, 1958. He was an American politician from West Virginia who belonged to the Democratic party. He is the only person from West Virginia to have worked in both parts of the United States Congress and to have served as the 21st governor of West Virginia. He is also the only individual to have held a full term in both Senate positions from the state.

Biography

He was born in Grove, West Virginia on November 9, 1874. He went to Salem College of West Virginia (now Salem International University) but did not earn a degree. When the Spanish–American War started, he joined the United States Army as a private. After the war, he got a law degree from West Virginia University. In 1903, he married Alberta Ramage. He began working as a lawyer in Fairmont, West Virginia, and was elected mayor of the city in 1908.

Congressman, senator, and governor (1913-1958)

Neely was elected to a Congress position in 1913 for a term that had not yet ended. He was elected again in 1914, 1916, and 1918. In 1920, he lost the election because he supported the policies of Woodrow Wilson.

In 1922, Neely ran for and was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat. He lost the election in 1928. He then ran for the state's other Senate seat in 1930 and was elected. He was elected again in 1936. In 1940, he ran for governor and left his Senate position early to take the governor role.

Neely later regretted this decision and thought about returning to the Senate in 1942. He later expressed regret about his time as governor. During his governorship, child welfare laws were changed, and a State Planning Board was created. When his term as governor ended in 1944, he ran for and was elected to his old House seat. He lost the election in 1946.

In 1948, he was elected to the Senate again, starting his third non-consecutive term. He served until his death in 1958. He was buried in Fairmont's Woodlawn Cemetery.

Neely was a New Deal Democrat who supported organized labor and civil rights. In the 1930s, he introduced "anti-lynching" laws, but they were not passed. He did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, even though school segregation was still required in West Virginia until the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. He did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1957. After returning to the Senate following his time as governor and in the House, he lost his senior position but remained respected by many senators. He was assigned to lead the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia, where he strongly supported "home rule" for the District of Columbia, which would allow its citizens to govern themselves. This idea was finally approved by Congress several years after his death.

Neely mentored George W. Crockett, Jr., a West Virginia attorney and later member of Congress, who said Neely helped him change from a Lincoln Republican to a New Deal Democrat.

Neely was known for his skill as a public speaker. In his honor, Fairmont State University holds an annual oratory contest named after him.

His grandson, Richard Neely, was an author and politician who later became the chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Legislation

In 1935, Neely introduced the first Department of Peace bill. He introduced the bill again in 1937 and 1939. In 1937, Neely worked with Senator Homer Bone and Representative Warren Magnuson to introduce the National Cancer Institute Act. President Franklin Roosevelt signed this law into effect on August 5, 1937. The Neely Anti-Block Booking Act helped reduce the control that film studios had over movie theaters.