Francis X. Bellotti

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Francis X. Bellotti
Francis X. Bellotti

In office
1963 – 1965
Governor Endicott Peabody
Preceded by Edward F. McLaughlin, Jr.
Succeeded by Elliot Richardson

Political party Democratic

Francis X. Bellotti (born 1923) is an American lawyer and politician who served as Lieutenant Governor for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1963 to 1965. In 1964 he had challenged the sitting governor of his own party, Endicott Peabody, and defeated him in the Democratic Primary; but lost in the general election to John Volpe who thus regained the chair he had lost in 1962. From 1975 to 1987 he served three terms as Massachusetts Attorney General. He also sought the nomination of the Democratic party for governor in 1970 and in 1990, but was defeated in the Democratic primary election in both elections.

In his official capacity for the state he was the named party in the commercial speech case: First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978), which established that corporations have some free speech rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Bellotti graduated from Tufts University in 1947 and received his law degree from Boston College in 1952. Since leaving office, Bellotti has practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts with the firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. He is the father of twelve children.

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Preceded by
Edward F. McLaughlin, Jr.
Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
19631965
Succeeded by
Elliot Richardson
Preceded by
Robert H. Quinn
Attorney General of Massachusetts
1975 – 1987
Succeeded by
James Shannon