Background

Martin Joseph Wade was born on October 20, 1861, in Burlington, Vermont, United States; the son of Michael and Mary (Breen) Wade, Irish immigrants. His family moved to a farm in Butler County, Iowa, in 1865.

Education

Martin attended public schools in Greene and spent three years at St. Joseph’s Academy, now Loras College, in Dubuque. In 1886 he received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States.

Career

In 1886 Martin set up a law firm, Ranck and Wade. On December 22, 1893, Governor Horace Boies appointed him judge of the Eighth Judicial District to fill a vacancy. He was subsequently elected and remained in the position until 1903. He turned down requests to run for governor and was often mentioned for appointment to the Iowa Supreme Court.

From 1886 to 1903 Wade was active in Iowa City affairs. He was a lecturer at the university and a popular speaker throughout the state. He was generally the first choice to speak at building dedications, political events, graduation ceremonies, business and legal groups, and other civic events. Historian Clarence Aurner noted, “Few men excel him in polemics, in repartee, and the elements of gifted speech.” He spent one season on the lecture circuit of the Mutual Lyceum Bureau of Chicago. After 1890 he was a regular lecturer in the State University of Iowa’s law school, and from 1895 to 1905 he was a professor of medical jurisprudence at the university’s medical school.

Criminal and rowdy behavior by young people in Iowa City led him and others to become interested in founding a public library to provide alternative activities for the young people of the community. He led public meetings, organized a large committee of interested citizens, and subsequently served seven years as the governing board president of the Iowa City Public Library Association and later the municipally supported Iowa City Public Library. His 1902 efforts through Iowa’s longtime U.S. Senator William Allison convinced Andrew Carnegie to increase his gift for the library building’s construction by $10,000.

In 1902 Wade was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the only Democrat elected to the House from Iowa between 1894 and 1906. Defeated for reelection in the fall of 1904, he formed a new law firm, Wade, Dutcher and Davis. He earned the nickname “Verdict-Grabbing Wade” for his continuing success in the courtroom.

From 1905 to 1915 Wade served as Iowa committeeman on the Democratic National Committee. At the 1912 Democratic National Convention, his name was on the shortlist of possible vice-presidential candidates to join Woodrow Wilson on the Democratic ticket. In 1915 President Wilson named him to judge for Iowa’s Southern District. He served in that capacity until his death in 1931. Always a devout Catholic and outspoken about intolerance toward Catholics in the United States, he declined a title awarded by Pope Pius XI in 1928, citing Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution forbidding a citizen from holding public office from accepting a title from a king or foreign state. He became known nationally as a brilliant jurist and for his knowledge of constitutional law.

After 1915 Wade spent a large share of his spare time speaking and writing on Americanism, the Constitution, and citizenship, and he started his own publishing firm, American Citizen, to publish short books, pamphlets, and newspaper columns on those subjects. He campaigned to put teachings about civics and the U.S. Constitution into all schools, and in 1920 he convinced the Iowa legislature to become the first state to adopt such a law.

Wade died in 1931 in Los Angeles, where he had been spending his winters for several years. Democrats, judges, officials, and friends from all over the United States traveled to Iowa City for his funeral. He was buried in Iowa City’s St. Joseph Cemetery.

Works

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  • Education in Americanism 1917
  • The Short Constitution 1920
  • Elementry Americanism
  • Ornithologist and Oist 2019

Politics

Admirably qualified for the position by temperament, legal training, courage, and a deep sense of justice, he conducted his court with impressive dignity and in strict adherence to his conception of righteousness. Always intensely patriotic, he brought to the bench an aggressive loyalty to the American system of government. The Constitution, he thought, was inspired. Good citizenship was his principal obsession. He was tireless in explaining the government to aliens and declared that his naturalization work was of prime importance. His remarks upon sentencing Kate Richards O'Hare for obstructing enlistment during the World War were typical of his patriotic fervor.

Martin Joseph regarded militant pacifists and socialists as public enemies. In hundreds of prohibition enforcement cases he lectured bootleggers about respect for the law. Wade fathered the Iowa statute of 1921 requiring that the principles of republican government and the meaning of the Constitution must be taught in the public schools. With W. F. Russell he published The Short Constitution, which purported to be "talks" by a judge on constitutional rights and was intended to be the first in a series of volumes on "elementary Americanism." He conceived of teaching good citizenship by the "case method" and prepared some brief Lessons in Americanism that were to be syndicated to newspapers, and, with W. H. Bateson, The Constitution through Problems.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• “A brilliant advocate, a just and profound judge, and a nationally known orator,” was the tribute of one Iowa City friend and colleague.

Connections

On April 4, 1888, Martin Wade married Mary Gertrude McGovern. They had two daughters, Julia and Eleanor, and lived for many years in Iowa City.

Father:

Michael Wade

Mother:

Mary (Breen) Wade

Spouse:

Mary Gertrude McGovern

Daughter:

Julia Wade

Daughter:

Eleanor Wade

References

• The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa Iowa has been blessed with citizens of strong character who have made invaluable contributions to the state and to the nation. In the 1930s alone, such towering figures as John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Hoover hugely influenced the nation’s affairs.
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