Maas, Melvin Joseph, 1898-1964

Melvin Joseph Maas was born in Duluth, Minnesota on May 14, 1898, the son of Frank Newton and Rose ( nee Brady) Maas. The family moved to St. Paul, where Maas attended public school. Maas graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 1919. He married Katherine Bole on October 9, 1920, and had three daughters before she died January 20, 1929. On December 1, 1934, Maas married Katherine Endress of St. Paul, and they had one son.

Maas was employed as a salesman for several years before being elected to Congress as a Republican from Minnesota's fourth congressional district in 1926, where he served, almost continuously, until 1944. During his congressional career, he focused on Prohibition and national defense, particularly the strengthening of naval forces.

Maas enlisted in the United States Marine Corp aviation unit during World War I, where he was assigned to a year of antisubmarine patrol in the Azores Islands. He continued his military activities throughout his life. After World War I, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and rose to the rank of major general. As a reservist, he was active in the Reserve Officers Association and several other veterans' organizations. Maas was on active duty in the South Pacific during WWII. He traveled extensively during this time period, visiting, among others, Britain, the West Indies, Portugal, Australia, Pearl Harbor, and also witnessed the atomic bomb test in Bikini Island on June 30, 1946. He was retained in an advisory capacity by the Defense Department during the Korean War. He retired from the reserve in 1952 after going blind.

Maas was a member of the President's Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped from 1954-1964, where he traveled and wrote extensively. Maas died April 13, 1964 in Bethesda, Maryland and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

From the guide to the Melvin J Maas papers., 1912-1986., (Minnesota Historical Society)