John J. O'Connor (historian)

O'Connor was born in Washington, D.C. to John D. O'Connor and Mary Roche O'Connor. He attended Georgetown University and received an A.B. (1926), A.M. (1927), LL.B. (1931), and Ph.D. (1936).^[1] His dissertation topic was Persecution in the Reign of Mary Tudor.^[2]

After receiving his master's degree, O'Connor began his teaching career at Georgetown where he progressed from instructor of history to assistant professor (1927–1936). He then moved to St. John's University as assistant professor (1936–1939), and then became associate professor and chair of the history department (1939–1943).^[3] After serving for two years in the Ordnance Department of the U.S. Army (1943–1945), he returned to Georgetown as a history professor in the School of Foreign Service, where he remained until his retirement in 1967.^[4]

O'Connor was the author or co-author of several books, including Twenty-Five in Ireland (Brent Knold Press, 1932); Catholic Revival in England (Macmillan, 1942); and two textbooks that he co-authored with St. John's University colleague Walter L. Willigan: Sociology (Longmans Green and Company, 1940), and Social Order (Longmans Green and Company, 1941). The latter two books both went through numerous printings. He was also managing editor of Logistics (1945–1947), and a contributor to America, Commonweal, Ave Maria, and Magnificat, and he contributed a chapter to The Catholic Bookman's Guide: A Critical Evaluation of Catholic Literature (Hawthorn Books, 1962). He was a regular book reviewer for the American Catholic Sociological Review.