McGovern, Charles

Charles C. McGovern (nicknamed Salty or Buck) was an influential military figure and politician in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He was born March 6, 1873, in Pittsburgh's First Ward, the Golden Triangle area, to Charles and Alice Gannon McGovern. He attended Holy Ghost College, now known as Duquesne University. McGovern married Leticia Rogers, his first wife, in 1900. They had five children: Charles C. Jr., J. Roger, Josephine, Mary and Elizabeth. McGovern's first wife passed away in 1953, and five years later, he married Rose Danahey on June 9, 1958. Ms. Danahey had worked with McGovern since 1902, as his secretary and co-worker in all of his political campaigns. McGovern had a long and acclaimed military career. He enlisted in the National Guard in 1888 and was in the relief group that went to Johnstown, Pa., after the massive flood there in 1889. He fought in the Spanish-American War, and in 1889 he was with the relief group in the Mexican uprising of 1911. He was at the Battle of Juarez, and commanded Troop H, First Pennsylvania Calvary, on the Mexican Border in 1916 and 1917. During World War I McGovern served with the Field Artillery and as a general intelligence officer. He continued to serve on military committees throughout his life, and was honored with the appointment to Brigadier General on the retired list of the Pennsylvania National Guard Reserve Army one year before his death. In addition to his successful military career, McGovern held a vast number of jobs and political positions. He served Theodore Roosevelt in a confidential capacity, and helped with his campaign from 1912 to 1914. McGovern then became a member of the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1915, and in 1941 was appointed a Trustee. This membership led McGovern to give weekly Sunday evening talks about Pennsylvania history on radio station WJAS for over a decade. In 1922, McGovern was appointed Chief of the City Detective Bureau, but resigned the same year in order to direct the Western Pennsylvania campaign of Gifford Pinchot for Governor. In 1923, he was named a special agent in the State Department of Justice to investigate bank failures and was also appointed to membership on the State Board of Registration Commission. Following that, he was appointed to the Commission to Study Municipal Consolidation in Counties of the Second Class Report (1925) and became County Controller (1926). In 1927, McGovern was elected County Commissioner, and served on the board until 1935 and as head of the board from 1932-1935. During this period McGovern organized the first Allegheny County Fair. McGovern was beaten for re-election in 1935 and ran unsuccessfully for the office of County Treasurer in 1939. He re-entered private business until 1940, when he was appointed a referee on the Unemployment Compensation Board. In 1947, he was named to the Liquor Control Board, and held that position until 1949, when he was appointed as referee on the Workmen's Compensation Board by Governor James Duff, and served as a referee in the Department of Labor and Industry until the time of his death in 1962.