Brief Chronology

  • 1913 --Born March 23 in Providence, Rhode Island
  • 1930 --Graduated from LaSalle Academy in Providence
  • 1931-40 --Completed apprenticeship, then worked as a bricklayer
  • 1936 --Elected President of local Bricklayers Union No. 1 (re-elected for next three years)
  • 1940 --Elected to U.S. Congress, representing Rhode Island's 2nd district
  • 1941 --Appointed to House of Representatives Naval Affairs Committee
  • 1943 --Married Luise Martha Rohland; daughter Mary born in 1948
  • 1944 --Resigned briefly from Congress on December 7th, to enlist in U.S. Navy; served with Construction Battalion (Seabees) until early February 1945.
  • 1945 --Resumed duties in the House of Representatives in February
  • 1946 --Received honorary doctorate from Providence College
  • 1947 --Appointed to the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee for Department of Labor and Federal Security Agency
  • 1949 --Became Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee for Department of Labor and Federal Security Agency [served in this post in subsequent Congresses until his death in 1967, except for the 83rd (1953-54)]
  • 1953 --Federal Security Agency became Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW)
  • 1957 --Appointed by President Eisenhower as congressional advisor to U.S. delegation to the World Health Organization Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland in May [would also attend assemblies in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, and 1966]
  • 1959 --Received Lasker Award for "extraordinary public service in championing the advancement of medical research and public health"
  • 1959 --Received honorary doctor of laws degree from University of Rhode Island
  • 1960 --Named "Mr. Public Health" by the Democratic National Committee [Newsweek would feature him in an article using that title in September 1961]
  • 1961 --Received honorary doctor of laws degrees from Brandeis University, Brown University, and Salve Regina College
  • 1964 --Received International Award in Field of Mental Retardation from the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation
  • 1964 --Established John E. Fogarty Foundation for the Mentally Retarded [now the John E. Fogarty Foundation for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities]
  • 1966 --Received American Heart Association's "Heart of the Year" award (presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House)
  • 1967 --Died of a heart attack on January 10th in in his office in the Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC