Edward Boland

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title: "Edward Boland" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1911-births", "2001-deaths", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "boston-college-law-school-alumni", "democratic-party-members-of-the-massachusetts-house-of-representatives", "politicians-from-springfield,-massachusetts", "united-states-army-officers", "american-people-of-irish-descent", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-massachusetts", "registers-of-deeds-in-massachusetts", "military-personnel-from-massachusetts", "20th-century-members-of-the-massachusetts-general-court", "20th-century-united-states-representatives"] description: "American politician (1911–2001)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Boland" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1911–2001) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Edward Boland
image	Edward Boland (1983).jpg
state	Massachusetts
district
term	January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1989
preceded	Foster Furcolo
succeeded	Richard Neal
office1	Chair of the House Intelligence Committee
term_start1	July 14, 1977
term_end1	January 3, 1985
preceded1	Otis G. Pike
succeeded1	Lee H. Hamilton
office2	Register of Deeds of Hampden County
term_start2	1941
term_end2	1952
predecessor2	C. Wesley Hale
successor2	John P. Lynch
state_house3	Massachusetts
district3	4th Hampden
term_start3	January 2, 1935
term_end3	January 1, 1941
predecessor3	Edward M. Cawley
successor3	Eugene J. Sweeney
birth_name	Edward Patrick Boland
birth_date
birth_place	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
education	Bay Path University
Boston College
party	Democratic
spouse	Mary Egan
children	4
signature	Edward Boland signature.png
allegiance	United States
branch
rank	Captain
battles	World War II
serviceyears	1942–1946
module
::

| name=Edward Boland | image=Edward Boland (1983).jpg | state=Massachusetts | district= | term=January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1989 | preceded=Foster Furcolo | succeeded=Richard Neal | office1= Chair of the House Intelligence Committee | term_start1 = July 14, 1977 | term_end1 = January 3, 1985 | preceded1 = Otis G. Pike | succeeded1 = Lee H. Hamilton | office2 = Register of Deeds of Hampden County | term_start2 = 1941 | term_end2 = 1952 | predecessor2 = C. Wesley Hale | successor2 = John P. Lynch | state_house3 = Massachusetts | district3 = 4th Hampden | term_start3 = January 2, 1935 | term_end3 = January 1, 1941 | predecessor3 = Edward M. Cawley | successor3 = Eugene J. Sweeney | birth_name=Edward Patrick Boland | birth_date= | birth_place=Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date= | death_place=Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S. | education =Bay Path University Boston College | party=Democratic | spouse = Mary Egan | children = 4 | signature = Edward Boland signature.png |allegiance = United States |branch = |rank = Captain |battles = World War II |serviceyears = 1942–1946 | module = |}}

Edward Patrick Boland (October 1, 1911 – November 4, 2001) was an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Democrat, he was a representative from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district.

Early life and education

Boland's father was an Irish immigrant railroad worker. Boland was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and graduated from Springfield Central High School in 1928. He attended Bay Path Institute and Boston College Law School.

Military service

He served in the United States Army during World War II.

Political career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/C13466-30.jpg" caption="House Minority Leader]] [[Robert H. Michel]], and Boland"] ::

He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1939 to 1940 and was the Hampden County register of deeds from 1941 to 1952.

Boland was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1952. Congressman Boland was in office during the closing of the Springfield Armory in 1968, and was harshly criticized for his inability to prevent its closure. This failure resulted in a challenge to Boland in 1968 by Springfield Mayor Charles V. Ryan. Boland was re-elected handily with significant help from the family of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy in what was to be the last challenge to Boland by a major contender. Boland's most famous work as a congressman was the 1982 Boland Amendment, which blocked certain funding of the Contras in Nicaragua after the Central Intelligence Agency had supervised acts of sabotage without notifying Congress. Boland lived in a Washington apartment with fellow Massachusetts Congressman Tip O'Neill (whose wife remained in Massachusetts) until 1977.

Boland announced in April 1988 that he would not run for a 19th term later that year; he never lost an election in 50 years as an elected official. Earlier, he'd tipped off Springfield mayor Richard Neal about his pending retirement, allowing Neal to get a significant head start in fundraising. Neal would be unopposed for the Democratic nomination–the real contest in this heavily Democratic district–and has held this seat, now numbered as the 1st district, ever since.

Personal life and death

Boland married at the age of 62, fathering four children. Boland died in 2001 at the age of 90 from natural causes.

References

References

1. [https://archive.org/details/manualforuseofge193940mass/page/248/mode/2up A manual for the use of the General Court (1939)]
2. [https://archive.org/details/manualforuseofge195354mass/page/352/mode/2up A manual for the use of the General Court (1953)]
3. [https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bitstream/handle/2452/796213/1934-House-01-January.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1934)]
4. [https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/bitstream/handle/2452/796231/1941-House-01-January.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1941)]
5. [https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-11-07-0111070216-story.html EDWARD P. BOLAND, 90]
6. Oliver, Myrna. (November 6, 2001). "Rep. Edward Boland, 90; Opposed Aid to Contras". Los Angeles Times.
7. "BOLAND, Edward Patrick, (1911 - 2001)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
8. "The Counterrevolutionaries (The Contras)". Brown University.
9. (April 7, 1988). "Massachusetts Democrat Will Retire After 18 House Terms". [[The Associated Press]].
10. Duncan, Philip D., and Nutting, Brian (eds.) (1999). "Neal, Richard E., D-Mass." ''[[CQ's Politics in America. CQ's Politics in America 2000: The 106th Congress]]''. Washington: [[Congressional Quarterly]]. pp. 488–489. {{ISBN. 978-1-56802-470-7.
11. Feeney, Mark. (November 6, 2001). "Longtime congressman Edward Boland dies". Boston Globe.

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