Foster Furcolo - House of Representatives

House of Representatives

In 1946 Furcolo stood for election as a Democratic Party candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat, running against incumbent Charles R. Clason. He lost by 3,000 votes, a narrow margin, in an election dominated in the state by Republican victories. In 1948, he again ran against Clason, and won by a comfortable margin, buoyed by the support of war veterans and organized labor. In 1950, Furcolo was challenged by Polish-American Republican Charles Skibinski, who sought to capitalize on the large number of Polish-Americans in the district in a campaign in which there were no major issues. Furcolo retained his seat, winning by more than 10,000 out of over 130,000 votes cast.

Furcolo served in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1949 until his resignation on September 30, 1952. He drew national attention when he was the first freshman representative to be invited to the White House by President Harry S. Truman to discuss legislative matters. He innovatively introduced the idea of a "people's council", composed of individuals from a cross-section of his district's interests, which he could consult to gauge opinion on legislative matters. His major legislative proposal, introduced early in his first term, was for a scholarship loan program to help needy high school graduates attend college.

In 1951 Furcolo was appointed to a special committee established to investigate reports of mass killings during World War II in the Katyn Forest of eastern Poland. The committee concluded that the killings had been perpetrated by Soviet secret service (NKVD), and sought to bring a case before the International Court of Justice. Furcolo used what he learned from the committee's investigations to write a book, Massacre At Katyn.