Paul W. Cronin

Paul William Cronin (March 14, 1938 – April 5, 1997) was a one-term congressman of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Cronin was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1938, and graduated from Boston University in 1962 and the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1969. He was elected as an Andover, Massachusetts selectman at the age of 24, was later elected as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1967-1969. Before his election to Congress, he also served as a member of Rep. F. Bradford Morse's Congressional Staff, and as a delegate to Republican National Conventions in both 1968 and 1972. In 1972, he was elected as a Republican to the Ninety-third Congress, defeating future US Senator and Presidential candidate John Kerry, who had moved to the Fifth District to seek the seat after Rep. Morse resigned to take a post at the United Nations. Cronin's victory was a huge upset against the anti-war candidate Kerry. He had trailed at one point by more than 20%, and his victory was often accredited to harsh attacks by The Lowell Sun, which attacked Kerry for being an elitist carpetbagger and for his questioning of the patriotism of those who supported the war. In the House, Cronin served on the Interior Committee, and began a process that led ultimately to the creation, years later, of an urban park in Lowell. A businessman and non-ideologue at heart, Cronin placed himself in the moderate wing of his party.