Bates, George Joseph

George J. Bates (1891-1949) was born in Salem and attended Salem Public Schools. He was member of the State House of Representatives from 1918-24; served as mayor of Salem from 1924-37. He served in Congress from 1937 to when he died in an airplane crash at the Washington D.C. National Airport on Nov. 1, 1949. His internment is in St. Mary's Cemetery. Known to be a devout catholic, he came up from humble beginnings to work part time in the tanneries by age 7, then apprenticed as an iron moulder. He also worked for United Shoe and the Leonard Iron Works in Canal Street. He took night courses in accounting at Bentley School in Boston, and then went on to bid for public office. He was elected to the state legislature first.

In his years as mayor, he was known to effect peaceful settlement of a strike at the Naumkeag Mills. And he fought to stem foreign imports that jeopardized wavering industries. He went unpaid for a year while holding down mayoral duties. In 1937, he was both U.S. Representative and mayor. He refused the mayor's pay so long as congress was in session.

The plane crash that killed Bates and all 55 passengers occurred between the Eastern Airlines passenger plane and a Bolivian fighter plane as the passenger plane came in for a landing. Lack of radio power may have been a factor in the crash. The plane was sheared in half by the impact.

See Also

• Memorial services held in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, together with tributes presented in eulogy of William H. Bates, late a Representative from Massachusetts U.S. Gov't Printing Office, 1970

• "Cong. Bates dies in plane crash" Salem Evening News, Nov. 2, 1949, p. 1-