Matthew M. Neely
Matthew Mansfield Neely (November 9, 1874 – January 18, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from West Virginia. He is the only West Virginian to serve in both houses of the United States Congress and as the Governor of West Virginia. He is also the only person to have held a full term in both Senate seats from the state.
Matthew M. Neely
Biography[edit]
He was born in Grove, West Virginia on November 9, 1874.[1] He attended Salem College of West Virginia (now Salem International University), but did not earn a degree. At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War he entered the United States Army as a private. Following the war, he earned a law degree from West Virginia University. In 1903, he married Alberta Ramage.[2]
He entered the practice of law in Fairmont, West Virginia and was elected its mayor in 1908.
Legislation[edit]
Senator Neely introduced the first Department of Peace bill in 1935.[7] Neely reintroduced the bill in 1937 and 1939.[7] In 1937, along with senator Homer Bone and representative Warren Magnuson, Neely introduced the National Cancer Institute Act, which was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt on August 5 of that year.[8] The Neely Anti-Block Booking Act gradually broke the control of the movie theaters by the studios.
