BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

HON. HERBERT R. O'CONOR

Governor of Maryland

HERBERT ROMULUS O'CONOR, son of Mrs. Mary Galvin O'Conor and
the late James P. A. O'Conor, was born on November 17, 1896, in Balti-
more. He received his early education at St. Paul's Parochial School and was
graduated from Loyola College, where he received a degree of Bachelor of Arts
in 1917, and the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1924. In 1920 he received his
Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Maryland.

On November 24, 1920, he married M.. Eugenia Byrnes, of Baltimore, and
they have five children, Lieut. Herbert R. O'Conor, Jr., U. S. A., Seaman Eugene
F. O'Conor, U. S. N., Mary Patricia, James P., and Robert.

Mr. O'Conor, in 1921, was appointed Assistant State's Attorney, serving
until January 1, 1923, when he was appointed People's Counsel of the Public
Service Commission.

In 1923 he became the Democratic nominee for State's Attorney and was
elected by a majority of 30, 000 votes, the youngest State's Attorney ever to be
elected in Baltimore City. In 1926 he was re-elected by a majority of 58, 000
votes, and again in 1930 by 100, 000 votes, the largest majority ever received
by a candidate for public office in Baltimore City. In 1934 Mr. O'Conor was
elected Attorney General, also by a record-breaking majority.

While State's Attorney of Baltimore City, he organized the State's At-
torneys' Association of Maryland, and became its first president. He was also
a charter member and officer of the Board of the National Association of
Prosecuting Attorneys. He was Chairman of the State Judicial Commission of
Maryland and in 1932 was named on the Committee on Criminal Law and
Statistics of the American Prison Association.

Mr. O'Conor in 1937 was President of the National Association of Attorneys
General. He has taken a leading part throughout the country in the adoption
of Interstate Compacts and was designated as the Chairman of the Maryland
Commission on that subject.

Mr. O'Conor was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor and
was elected to that office in the general election of November 8, 1938, by a
majority of over 65, 000.

In June, 1940 Governor O'Conor was selected by the Governors of the
United States as a member of the Executive Committee of the Governors'
Conference, the Governing Body of the Governors' Conference, and in June,

1941. he was appointed Chairman of the Governors' Committee on Law Enforce-
ment and the Administration of Justice. In 1941 he was designated as Chair-
man of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.

At the annual meeting of the Governors in Asheville, North Carolina, June,

1942. Governor O'Conor was elected Chairman of the Governors' Conference,
the first Maryland Governor ever so honored. In November, 1942, at the annual
meeting of the Council of State Governments in Chicago, he was elected Presi-
dent of that body, which included, besides the Governors' Conference, various
State and interstate Governmental groups.