Martin L. Sweeney
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Martin Leonard Sweeney (April 15, 1885 – May 1, 1960) was a U.S. Representative from Ohio and the father of Robert E. Sweeney.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Sweeney attended parochial and public schools in the area. Prior to his political career Sweeney worked as a laborer, hoisting engineer and a salesman from 1901-1913. He served as a member of the State House of Representatives in 1913 and 1914, and graduated from the Cleveland Law School of Baldwin-Wallace College in 1914. Sweeney was admitted to the bar that same year and begin practicing law in Cleveland. From 1924-32 Sweeney was judge of the municipal court of Cleveland, and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1932.
Sweeney was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles A. Mooney. He was re-elected to the Seventy-third and the four succeeding Congresses, serving from November 3, 1931, to January 3, 1943. Sweeney was an unsuccessful candidate for re-nomination in 1942 after being targeted for his stand against British Lend Lease and a vague isolationism. He was defeated in the primary by Michael Feighan, who represented Cleveland in Congress for the next twenty-eight years. He was an unsuccessful for Democratic nomination for mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933 and in 1941, and for the gubernatorial nomination in 1944. Practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio, until his death there May 1, 1960. He was interred in Calvary Cemetery.
His daughter was married to the son of Cuyahoga County Sherriff Martin O'Donnell.{1886-1941}
His cousin Dr. Francis Sweeney was a suspect in the Cleveland Torso Murderer of 1934-1938
