Francis Edwin Dorn

Who was Francis Edwin Dorn?

Francis Edwin Dorn was a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.

He was born in Brooklyn. He attended St. Augustine and Bishop Loughlin Memorial High Schools. Dorn graduated from Fordham University in 1932 and Fordham University School of Law in 1935. He also studied at NYU Wagner School of Public Service in 1936. Dorn was admitted to the bar that year and began his practice in Brooklyn.

He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1940 but resigned to enlist in the United States Navy in 1941. Dorn served four years overseas during World War II and was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve and was later promoted to commander.

He was elected as a Republican to Congress in 1952 after two unsuccessful campaigns in 1948 and 1950 and served from January 3, 1953 until January 3, 1961. Dorn was defeated in 1960 by his neighbor, future New York Governor Hugh Carey, and thereafter continued in business as owner of his F.E.D. Concrete Company until his death. He died in New York City.

Dorn's Park Slope mansion was purchased by actor Paul Bettany and his wife actress Jennifer Connelly.

Dorn advocated adding the phrase "under God" into the formerly nonsectarian Pledge of Allegiance in 1954.