Joseph D. Ward was an American politician who served as Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth

The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth is the principal public information officer of the state government of the U.S...

 from January 1959 to January 1961.

Ward was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives

Massachusetts House of Representatives

The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from single-member electoral districts across the Commonwealth. Representatives serve two-year terms...

 in 1948, representing the 13th Worcester District. He was the Democratic nominee for Massachusetts Attorney General

Massachusetts Attorney General

The Massachusetts Attorney General is an elected executive officer of the Massachusetts Government. The office of Attorney-General was abolished in 1843 and re-established in 1849. The current Attorney General is Martha Coakley....

 in 1958, but lost to George Fingold

George Fingold

George Fingold George Fingold George Fingold (born October 18, 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Suffolk University Law School, a private law school in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, and became a politician who served as Attorney General of Massachusetts from 1953-1958....

 Ward was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth following the death of Edward J. Cronin

Edward J. Cronin

Edward Joseph Cronin was a Massachusetts lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1949 to 1958.-References:...

. In 1960, Ward ran for Governor of Massachusetts

Governor of Massachusetts

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the executive magistrate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The current governor is Democrat Deval Patrick.-Constitutional role:...

. He defeated Endicott Peabody

Endicott Peabody

Endicott "Chub" Peabody was the 62nd Governor of Massachusetts from January 3, 1963 to January 7, 1965.-Early life:...

, Francis E. Kelly

Francis E. Kelly

Francis E. Kelly was an American politician who served as a member of the Boston City Council from 1930–1933, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1937 to 1939 and Massachusetts Attorney General from 1949-1953.-Footnotes:...

, Robert F. Murphy

Robert F. Murphy

Robert F. Murphy was an American politician who as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1949 Murphy became the first Democrat to serve as the Majority Leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives...

, John Francis Kennedy

John Francis Kennedy

John Francis Kennedy was the Treasurer of Massachusetts from 1955 to 1961.Kennedy worked as a supervisor in the miscellaneous small parts stockroom for Gillette in Canton, Massachusetts, before seeking public office. Kennedy first sought the office of Treasurer in 1952, losing the Democratic...

, Gabriel Piemonte

Gabriel Piemonte

Gabriel Francis Piemonte was an American attorney and politician who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1947 to 1952 and the Boston City Council from 1952 to 1960, 1962 to 1964, 1966 to 1968, and 1970 to 1974...

, and Alfred Magaletta in the primary, but lost to John A. Volpe

John A. Volpe

John Anthony Volpe was the 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts and a U.S. Secretary of Transportation.-Early life and education:Volpe was born in 1908 in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was the son of Italian immigrants Vito and Filomena , who had come from Abruzzo to Boston's North End in 1905;...

 in the general election. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate

Massachusetts Senate

The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the state...

 in 1962 and remained there until his retirement from politics in 1972.

Ward also spent 12 years as a professor of political law at Boston University

Boston University

Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...

.