Howard J. Whitmore Jr.

Howard J. Whitmore Jr. was an American politician who was a member of the Massachusetts [House of Representatives] from 1947 to 1953 and Mayor of Newton, Massachusetts from 1954 to 1959.

Early years

A native of Newton, Massachusetts, Whitmore played baseball for Newton High School. He went on to Harvard College, was a "star right-hander" pitching for the Crimson baseball team, and graduated in 1929. After his freshman year at Harvard in 1926, he played summer baseball for Chatham in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Whitmore's political career began in 1940 when he was elected to the Newton Board of Aldermen. From 1947 to 1953, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he was the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. He left the House in 1953 after being elected Mayor of Newton.
Whitmore did not seek reelection in 1959. He was considered to be a frontrunner for the Republican nomination for Governor in 1960, but dropped out of the race after he lost the convention vote to John A. Volpe. He was the Republican nominee for United States Senate election in [Massachusetts, 1964|United States Senate in 1964]. He lost to incumbent Ted Kennedy by over one million votes.

After his defeat in the 1964 Senate race, Whitmore was named Commissioner of the Metropolitan District Commission, a post he held until 1970. He died in Boston, Massachusetts in 1998 at age 93.