John S. McGroarty
Encyclopedia
John Steven McGroarty was a poet, Los Angeles Times
columnist and author who also served two terms as a Democratic Congressman from California.
, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
(near Wilkes-Barre
), McGroarty was the youngest of 12 children. He was educated at public schools and Harry Hillman Academy in Wilkes-Barre, and was employed as treasurer of Luzerne County from 1890–1893. He later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894 and commenced practice in Wilkes-Barre. McGroarty then moved to Montana
and was employed in an executive position with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at Butte and Anaconda from 1896–1901. Afterward he moved to Los Angeles, California
in 1901 and engaged in journalism. In 1909, McGroarty edited a LA Times centenary edition of Lincoln's birth with an introspective on blacks in Los Angeles. He became a "beloved figure in black Los Angeles" for his broad-minded views. McGroarty authored numerous books and dramas, one of his best-known works being The Mission Play (1911), a three-hour pageant describing the California Missions
from their founding in 1769 through secularization in 1834, ending with their "final ruin" in 1847. The play opened on April 29, 1912. McGroarty also penned California: Its History and Romance in 1911 and Mission Memories in 1929. In
his book the California Plutarch,1935, he detailed the lives and histories of Northern and Southern California's early pioneers such as the Crocker, Carrillo, Van Nuys, Stanford, Avila, Estrada, Sepulveda, Baldwin and Mulholland families.
McGroarty was designated poet laureate
of California by the State legislature in 1933. He was elected to the 74th Congress (January 3, 1935–January 2, 1937) where played a large factor in introducing the Townsend Bill to the legislature; McGroarty was reelected to the 75th Congress (January 3, 1937–January 2, 1939), but was not selected as a candidate for renomination in 1938; he was also unsuccessful at securing the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State
of California that same year. After his brief stint in politics, McGroarty resumed the profession of journalism in Tujunga, California. McGroarty died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, California
on August 7, 1944 at the age of 81, and was interred at Calvary Cemetery
.
He lived in Sunland, California, in a house he built himself and completed in 1923, known as Rancho Chupa Rosa. The building is now Historic Cultural Monument No. 63 of the City of Los Angeles and is known as the McGroarty Arts Center. It offers instruction in art, music and performance and hosts cultural events.
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
columnist and author who also served two terms as a Democratic Congressman from California.
Biography
Born at Buck Mountain, in Foster TownshipFoster Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Foster Township is a township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,323 at the 2000 census. It was first settled in 1824 by John Lines and incorporated as a township in 1855.-Geography:...
, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
- Demographics :As of the 2010 census, the county was 90.7% White, 3.4% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.3% were of some other race, and 1.5% were two or more races. 6.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino ancestry...
(near Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
), McGroarty was the youngest of 12 children. He was educated at public schools and Harry Hillman Academy in Wilkes-Barre, and was employed as treasurer of Luzerne County from 1890–1893. He later studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1894 and commenced practice in Wilkes-Barre. McGroarty then moved to Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and was employed in an executive position with the Anaconda Copper Mining Company at Butte and Anaconda from 1896–1901. Afterward he moved to Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1901 and engaged in journalism. In 1909, McGroarty edited a LA Times centenary edition of Lincoln's birth with an introspective on blacks in Los Angeles. He became a "beloved figure in black Los Angeles" for his broad-minded views
Spanish missions in California
The Spanish missions in California comprise a series of religious and military outposts established by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823 to spread the Christian faith among the local Native Americans. The missions represented the first major effort by Europeans to...
from their founding in 1769 through secularization in 1834, ending with their "final ruin" in 1847. The play opened on April 29, 1912. McGroarty also penned California: Its History and Romance in 1911 and Mission Memories in 1929. In
his book the California Plutarch,1935, he detailed the lives and histories of Northern and Southern California's early pioneers such as the Crocker, Carrillo, Van Nuys, Stanford, Avila, Estrada, Sepulveda, Baldwin and Mulholland families.
McGroarty was designated poet laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
of California by the State legislature in 1933. He was elected to the 74th Congress (January 3, 1935–January 2, 1937) where played a large factor in introducing the Townsend Bill to the legislature; McGroarty was reelected to the 75th Congress (January 3, 1937–January 2, 1939), but was not selected as a candidate for renomination in 1938; he was also unsuccessful at securing the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
of California that same year. After his brief stint in politics, McGroarty resumed the profession of journalism in Tujunga, California. McGroarty died in St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
on August 7, 1944 at the age of 81, and was interred at Calvary Cemetery
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...
.
He lived in Sunland, California, in a house he built himself and completed in 1923, known as Rancho Chupa Rosa. The building is now Historic Cultural Monument No. 63 of the City of Los Angeles and is known as the McGroarty Arts Center. It offers instruction in art, music and performance and hosts cultural events.
Quotes
- "The plays could be made most touching and instructive at the same time, without connecting the Fathers in an unholy way with everlasting, silly femininity, as some would-be poets have done with no foundation in fact, but merely as a manifestation of their own unclean dreams, Godspeed to your work in that line."
— Father Zephyrin EngelhardtZephyrin EngelhardtZephyrin Engelhardt, O.F.M., was a German-born Roman Catholic priest and clerical historian of the Franciscan Order....
to John S. McGroarty regarding his work on The Mission Play, 1910.
- "The story of Junipero Serra and the Missions for dramatic purposes has been lying around since 1833, at least, for anybody to grab. But no one grabbed it until I did so in 1912. Now it is mine."
— John McGroarty to Charles F. Lummis regarding The Mission Play, 1916.
- "Both as Business and Art, it is intolerable to have in your beautiful pageant some of the frightful anachronisms now there. The Babbits don’t realize them; but every once in a great while someone will go to see the Mission Play who will know that Father Serra didn’t teach the California Indians to weave dam
[ sicSicSic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...] bad Navajo blankets!"
— Charles F. Lummis to John McGroarty regarding The Mission Play, 1926.
- "One of the countless drawbacks of being in Congress is that I am compelled to receive impertinent letters from a jackass like you in which you say I promised to have the Sierra Madre mountains reforested and I have been in Congress two months and haven't done it. Will you please take two running jumps and go to hell."
— Letter from John McGroarty to a constituent in 1934. Quoted by President John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage, 1956.
See also
- United States congressional delegations from CaliforniaUnited States Congressional Delegations from CaliforniaThese are tables of congressional delegations from California in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.-United States Senate:- Mid-term changes :-United States House of Representatives:...
- M.V. HartranftM.V. HartranftMarshall Valentine Hartranft , known as M.V. Hartranft, was an agriculturalist, a land developer and the president of the Glendale-Eagle Rock Railway in Los Angeles County, California...
, speaker at the dedication of Mount McGroarty