John F. Dockweiler

John Francis Dockweiler was born in Los Angeles to Isidore Bernard Dockweiler and Gertrude Reeve. As a youth, he tried his hand at acting and theatrical pursuits, but his career never gained momentum.^[1] Dockweiler attended parochial schools. He graduated from the Loyola College of Los Angeles in 1918 and from the University of Southern California in 1921. He attended the law department of Harvard University. He was admitted to the bar in 1921, and commenced law practice in Los Angeles in 1922.^[2]

Congress

Dockweiler was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third, Seventy-fourth, and Seventy-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1939). He was not a candidate for renomination in the primaries in 1938, but was instead an unsuccessful primary candidate for governor of California, losing to state senator Culbert Olson. In the general election, he was an unsuccessful independent candidate for reelection to the Seventy-sixth Congress.

Later career and death

Dockweiler resumed the practice of law and ran for Los Angeles County District Attorney in 1940, defeating three-term incumbent Buron Fitts^[3] by a margin of over 260,000 votes.^[4] Dockweiler served in that office from December 2, 1940, until his death from pneumonia on January 31, 1943.^[5] He was interred in Calvary Cemetery (New Calvary Catholic Cemetery) in East Los Angeles.