Representative Thaddeus Francis Boleslaw Wasielewski

Thaddeus Francis Boleslaw Wasielewski (December 2, 1904 – April 25, 1976) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who represented Wisconsin’s 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1947. Born in Milwaukee, he was part of the city’s substantial Polish American and Catholic community, a background that would later shape his political base and identity. Growing up in an urban, immigrant milieu in early twentieth-century Milwaukee, he was exposed to the social and economic issues facing working-class families, experiences that informed his later public service.

Wasielewski was educated in the Milwaukee public schools and went on to pursue legal studies, preparing for a career in law. He studied at Marquette University and completed his legal education at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, where he received professional training that equipped him for both private practice and public life. After admission to the bar, he established himself as a practicing attorney in Milwaukee, building a reputation within the local legal community and gaining familiarity with the concerns of his future constituents through his work with individuals, businesses, and civic organizations.

Before his election to Congress, Wasielewski’s career centered on the practice of law in Milwaukee. As an attorney, he handled a range of legal matters that reflected the city’s industrial and commercial character, and he became active in Democratic Party circles. His professional standing and community involvement helped him emerge as a viable candidate for federal office at a time when the New Deal coalition was reshaping political alignments in Wisconsin and across the nation. By the end of the 1930s, he was positioned as a representative voice for Milwaukee’s urban, ethnic, and working-class voters.

Wasielewski was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-seventh Congress and took office on January 3, 1941, beginning the first of three consecutive terms representing Wisconsin’s 4th congressional district. He served in the Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, and Seventy-ninth Congresses, remaining in office until January 3, 1947. His six years in the House coincided with a pivotal era in American history, encompassing the nation’s entry into World War II, the wartime mobilization of industry and manpower, and the initial transition to a peacetime economy. As a member of the House of Representatives, Thaddeus Francis Boleslaw Wasielewski participated in the legislative process during this critical period, contributing to debates and votes on measures related to national defense, wartime production, and postwar planning, and representing the interests of his Milwaukee constituents in Congress.

During his congressional service, Wasielewski was part of the Democratic majority that supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wartime leadership and, later, President Harry S. Truman’s early postwar initiatives. He worked within the framework of the New Deal and wartime Democratic coalition, aligning with policies aimed at economic security, labor protections, and support for returning veterans. His tenure reflected the concerns of an industrial district heavily involved in war production, and he was engaged in the democratic process at a time when questions of civil liberties, economic regulation, and international engagement were at the forefront of congressional deliberations.

Wasielewski’s congressional career came to an end following the 1946 elections, a year in which Republicans made significant gains nationwide in the first major postwar contest. His race in Wisconsin’s 4th district drew national attention and was profiled in the November 4, 1946 issue of Life magazine in an article titled “Bobrowicz… vs. Brophy… vs. Wasielewski,” highlighting the competitive and complex political dynamics in Milwaukee, including challenges from both major-party and third-party candidates. After three terms in office, he left Congress on January 3, 1947, concluding six years of service as a Democratic U.S. Representative.

In the years following his departure from Congress, Wasielewski returned to the practice of law in Milwaukee, resuming his legal career and remaining a figure within the city’s civic and political life. Identified in contemporary political records as one of Wisconsin’s Catholic politicians, he continued to be associated with the state’s Democratic and ethnic political traditions even after leaving elective office. Thaddeus Francis Boleslaw Wasielewski died in Milwaukee on April 25, 1976, closing a life that had spanned the Progressive Era, the New Deal, World War II, and the early decades of the Cold War, and that included six years of service in the United States Congress representing Wisconsin’s 4th congressional district.