East High School - Redjacket Yearbook (Pawtucket, RI)

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JOSEPH KEENAN

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Joseph 13. Keen an TN June. 1906. the man who was to become the Nemesis of gangsters the country over, graduated from Pawtucket High School! Few people present at that graduation ever dreamed of the success that lay ahead of Joseph B. Keenan, one of the nervous seniors on the stage that night. From Pawtucket High School he went to Brown University, where in 1910 he was graduated with the degrees of A. B. and A. M. In 1913. after a three-year course at Harvard Law School, he received the degree of L. L. B. Immediately after his graduation he left New England and went to Cleveland, where he passed the Ohio bar examinations and began the practice of law in late 1913. By hard work he soon became prominent in his profession. and won the respect and admiration of his neighbors and colleagues. The World War found Mr. Keenan a member of the A. E. F. in France. In July, 1918, he was cited by General Pershing for meritorious service to his country, and received the thanks of the French government. He was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, and was honorably discharged from the service soon after the Armistice. Back to Cleveland and the practice of law went Joseph Keenan, and he quickly regained all that the war had cost him. He enlarged his practice and soon became one of the best attorneys in the state. He served for a time as district attorney, but preferred private practice. After thirteen years as a successful lawyer his admiration for Governor Roosevelt of New York caused him to participate in Roosevelt’s presidential campaign of 1932. He was a leader in the success of the “Roosevelt for President” movement in Ohio, and was the organizer of a political club which had a mem- bership of sixty thousand throughout the country. He continued his career in Cleveland until he was called to the aid of the Federal government in 1933. Then he was appointed special assistant to the United States Attorney-General, and assigned to lead a drive to end racketeering in the United States. Six months later he was promoted to the position of Assistant Attorney-General of the United States in direct charge of the Criminal Division. In his new position Mr. Keenan organized a “campaign against crime . It was he who caused the downfall of racketeers and gangsters in New York. Chicago, the Middle West, and the Pacific Coast. His administration saw the capture and death of America’s worst public enemies, the John Dillinger gang, and gave American citizens a security they had not known in years. After nearly six years in this high office he retired from public service on February 16, 1939. President Roosevelt, on receiving his resignation, said in a letter to him: “You have served with enthusiasm, distinction, and unswerving loyalty. Your future career will always be a matter of affectionate interest to me, and 1 wish for you in it every success and happiness.” The Class of 1939 echoes the President's sentiments, and is indeed proud to honor such an illustrious graduate of Pawtucket High School. In a visit to Rhode Island during his campaign against kidnappers, Mr. Keenan said to a high school audience here: Pawtucket on the Blackstone River will always be the great city of the world to me. because it always means our old high school and my friends who have been so kind. James Schora [ 14]

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The Cl ass o f 1886 ' 'NF all the classes to be graduated from the Pawtucket High School, there has been none so distinguished for the fine bond of friendship and loyalty among its members as the class of 1 886. On the evening following their graduation from high school, located at that time in the Second Baptist Church on High Street, the boys of '86 held their first reunion, and they have kept up the custom every year since. Although only four of the twenty-two boys are now alive, the decrease in numbers has not dampened their enthusiasm for these annual get-togethers. They have a solemn pledge that so long as two survive, the yearly reunion will always be observed. William L. Perkins, custodian and treasurer of the group, with Rufus S. Adams, John Blodgett, and George M. Rex, is now making plans for the fifty-fourth reunion to be held in June. Of the sixteen deceased members of the organization, many were especially prominent. Walter G. Gatchell was a first lieutenant in the Spanish American War and a major in the World War. The Gatchell Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, was named in his honor. Lyman C. Newell, with degrees from Brown and Johns Hopkins Universities, was a professor of chemistry at Boston University, and the author of several textbooks of chemistry. The class, as a whole, has been exceedingly successful. A grouping of the occupations of the boys after college days reveals twelve businessmen, three civil engineers, one army officer, one lawyer, one minister, one doctor, one composer, one professor and author, and one certified public accountant. Mr. Perkins has placed in the. office of our school a box to be formally opened in 1955. the one-hundredth anniversary of the Summit Street High School, the first in Pawtucket. It contains a composite picture of the students of the school in 1886, with a brief biography of each, and a picture and description of all our school sites, complete to the present day. The purpose of the history is to acquaint posterity with the rapid growth and development of our city's educational facilities. We. the Class of 1939. pay tribute to the men of 1886 who have made so important a contribution to the life of the community, and who have set us and all other classes of P. H. S. an example of what class spirit really means. John Hynes [ 16 1 ■