John F. X. McGohey

Who was John F. X. McGohey?

John F. X. McGohey was a United States federal judge.

Born in New York, New York, McGohey received a B.A. from Fordham University in 1917 and was in the United States Army during World War I, from 1918 to 1919. He received an LL.B. from New York University School of Law in 1923. He was an assistant counsel to the Hearst Publishing Company from 1923 to 1924, and was then counsel to the New York City Board of Transportation until 1932. He was an assistant state attorney general of New York from 1933 to 1943, and was a chief assistant United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York from 1944 to 1949. He was the chief prosecutor of the Foley Square trial in which eleven leaders of the US Communist party were convicted of violating the Smith Act.

On October 21, 1949, McGohey received a recess appointment from President Harry S. Truman to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York created by 63 Stat. 493. Formally nominated on January 5, 1950, he was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 8, 1950, and received his commission on March 9, 1950.