Senator Thomas James McIntyre

Thomas James McIntyre (February 20, 1915 – August 8, 1992) was an American lawyer and politician who represented New Hampshire in the United States Senate for three terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from New Hampshire from 1962 to 1979, participating in the legislative process during a significant period in American history and representing the interests of his constituents. His service in Congress, which is sometimes dated from his initial special election victory in 1961 and his official seating in 1962, extended through the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.

McIntyre was born on February 20, 1915, and grew up in New England, a region whose political and civic traditions would shape his later public career. Details of his early family life and upbringing are less extensively documented than his later public service, but his formative years coincided with the closing years of the Progressive Era and the onset of the Great Depression, developments that influenced many future policymakers of his generation. He came of age in a period when public service and participation in democratic institutions were increasingly seen as avenues for addressing economic and social challenges.

Pursuing higher education and the law, McIntyre trained as an attorney before entering politics, establishing himself professionally as an American lawyer. His legal background provided the foundation for his later work in legislative drafting, regulatory oversight, and committee leadership in the Senate. As a practicing lawyer, he developed familiarity with financial institutions, regulatory frameworks, and the practical implications of federal policy, experience that would later inform his work on banking and small business issues in Congress.

McIntyre’s entry into national office came at a time of political realignment in New Hampshire and across the country. A Democrat in a state long dominated by Republicans, he was elected to the United States Senate and was officially seated on November 13, 1962. He went on to serve three terms, remaining in office until 1979. He won a full term in 1966, defeating retired pilot Harrison Thyng by 18,647 votes, thereby becoming the first Democratic Senator in New Hampshire’s history to win a second term. He was re-elected to a third term in 1972, defeating former Governor Wesley Powell by 44,643 votes. In 1978, amid a nationwide conservative movement and criticism that he spent more time in Florida than in New Hampshire, he narrowly lost his bid for a fourth term to Republican Gordon Humphrey by about 5,800 votes.

During his Senate career, McIntyre held several influential committee positions and played an active role in shaping national policy. He served as chairman of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Research and Development, where he helped oversee military technology and defense innovation during the Cold War. He also chaired the Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions, a position that drew on his legal and financial expertise, and the Small Business Subcommittee on Government Regulation, where he worked on issues affecting entrepreneurs and regulatory burdens. In 1967, as a subcommittee chairman on the Banking Committee, he famously demonstrated skepticism toward conventional stock-picking wisdom by showing that he could beat the recommendations of stock investors by throwing darts at stock listings, a widely noted illustration of market unpredictability.

McIntyre’s legislative record reflected both support for and independence from Democratic administrations. He backed the Kennedy administration on national wilderness preservation, youth employment initiatives, and increased area redevelopment aid, aligning himself with efforts to expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. At the same time, he opposed President Kennedy’s proposal for mass transportation funding, signaling his willingness to diverge from party leadership on specific policy questions. On defense matters, he supported an amendment by Senator Richard Russell Jr. to remove funds for the Nike-Zeus antimissile system from a defense procurement bill, reflecting concerns about the cost and efficacy of certain weapons systems, while also endorsing a motion by Senator Margaret Chase Smith to add $134,000,000 for two additional nuclear submarines to the same bill, underscoring his commitment to maintaining a robust naval deterrent. He sponsored the law creating share-draft checking accounts for savings institutions, a significant financial innovation that allowed customers of savings and loan associations and similar institutions to write checks against their accounts, broadening consumer access to banking services.

On foreign policy and national security, McIntyre’s views evolved over time, particularly with respect to the Vietnam War. Originally a strong supporter of the war, he served as co-chairman of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaign in New Hampshire in the 1968 election and was an outspoken critic of Johnson’s primary challenger, Senator Eugene McCarthy, whom he labeled an “appeaser.” As the conflict deepened and domestic opposition grew, however, McIntyre reassessed his position and ultimately came to oppose the war, lamenting that “Our nation is tearing itself apart.” Later in his Senate career, in 1976, he led an unsuccessful attempt to filibuster the confirmation of George H. W. Bush as Director of Central Intelligence, arguing that the former chairman of the Republican National Committee might politicize the Central Intelligence Agency, a stance that reflected his concerns about maintaining the independence of intelligence agencies from partisan influence.

After leaving the Senate in 1979, McIntyre remained a figure associated with a transitional era in New Hampshire and national politics, spanning the New Deal generation, the Cold War, and the social and political upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. He continued to be recognized for his long service as a Democratic senator from a traditionally Republican state and for his contributions to defense oversight, financial regulation, and consumer banking reform. Thomas James McIntyre died on August 8, 1992, closing a public life that had extended over three terms in the United States Senate and encompassed some of the most consequential debates of mid-20th-century American governance.