McGohey, John F.X. Papers

Assistant United States Attorney, Southern District of New York, 1944-1949; District Court Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1949-1972.

The papers of John F. X. McGohey contain notes, memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, press releases, publications, speeches, and other materials related to his work as a federal prosecutor and federal judge.

Size: 3 linear feet, 6 linear inches.
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donors gave their copyright interest in these papers to the United States of America. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents in the collection presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Dennis E. Bilger (1973); Jan Davis and David Clark (2016); Tammy Williams (2025).

John Francis Xavier McGohey was born in New York City on January 7, 1894. He graduated from Xavier High School in 1913. He received his bachelor's degree from Fordham University in 1917. He served in the United States Army during World War I from 1918 to 1919. He received his law degree from New York University School of Law in 1923, after which he worked as assistant counsel for the Hearst Publishing Company until 1924. He then served as counsel to the New York City Board of Transportation from 1924 until 1932. From 1933 to 1943, he served as Assistant State Attorney General of New York. In 1944, he was appointed Chief Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and served in that post until 1949. On October 21, 1949, President Harry S. Truman appointed him as a judge on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York through a recess appointment. President Truman nominated him for the same position on January 5, 1950, and he was confirmed on March 8, 1950. He assumed the position of Senior Judge on March 17, 1970. His service ended on July 7, 1972, upon his death.

The papers of John F. X. McGohey contain notes, memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, press releases, publications, speeches, and other materials related to his work as a federal prosecutor and federal judge.

The first series, the U. S. v. Dennis et al. File, contains notes, memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, press releases, publications, and other materials. McGohey served as the prosecutor for the United States in this case against various leaders of the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). The United States prosecuted these leaders of the CPUSA, including Eugene Dennis, General Secretary, for violating the Smith Act. Enacted on June 28, 1940, the Smith Act set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of the United States government by force or violence. The series contains background information about various Allied conferences held during World War II, which included Joseph Stalin, the Communist leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This series also contains newspaper clippings covering the trial and the draft of McGohey’s summation of the case delivered before the trial court.

The second series, the United States District Court Judge File, contains memoranda, speeches, printed materials, handwritten notes, and other materials related to Judge John F. X. McGohey’s service on the District Court bench. Most of the series consists of typewritten memoranda and decisions issued by Judge McGohey on various cases throughout the course of his term on the bench. The matters include habeas corpus petitions, motions for summary judgment, motions for preliminary injunctions, admiralty cases, motions to dismiss, orders for assignment of counsel for indigent petitioners, and other issues.