Drinan, Robert Frederick, 1920-2007

Robert Frederick Drinan was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on November 15, 1920, to James John and Ann Mary (Flanagan) Drinan. He graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1938 and entered Boston College the same year. He earned his B.A. from Boston College in 1942, later that year entering the Society of Jesus, though he was not ordained until 1953. In the intervening years, Drinan pursued a legal education and earned a M.A. from Boston College in 1947 as well as two law degrees from Georgetown University Law Center, a LL.B in 1949 and a LL.M in 1950. He completed his Jesuit education in 1954 when he received a doctorate of sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome.

In 1955, Drinan began his professional academic career with a return to Boston College. He joined the faculty of the Boston College Law School, where he also served as the Associate Dean. He became the Dean a year later, a position he held until 1969. During his tenure at the law school, Drinan increased the size of the faculty and brought in top-quality scholars, transforming the law school into a top-rated institution. He was outspoken on social justice issues confronting Boston in the 1960s and called for the desegregation of Boston public schools. From 1969 to 1970, Drinan served as the Vice-President and Provost of Boston College.

In 1970, Drinan, a Democrat, ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and became the first Catholic priest to be elected to Congress. From 1971-1981, he served in the 92nd-96th Congresses. In the 92nd Congress, he represented the Massachusetts 3rd District, which was renamed the Massachusetts 4th District for the 93rd-96th Congresses. Drinan served on the House Internal Security Committee, the House Government Operations Committee, the House Select Committee on Aging, and the House Judiciary Committee, for which he served as the Chairman of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee in his final term.

Drinan was focused on social justice and human rights issues throughout his legislative career. After running on an anti-Vietnam War platform in his first congressional campaign he used his position to push for an end to the war and the withdrawal of American troops. His involvement with the House Judiciary Committee and its Criminal Justice Subcommittee played an integral part in the impeachment of President Nixon. When Drinan called for Nixon's impeachment in 1973, he was the first Representative to do so, though he was motivated by the secret bombing of Cambodia, rather than Watergate. Drinan's work as chair of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee also led to an overhaul of the federal criminal code in 1979 and 1980.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II announced that priests were henceforth barred from holding political office and so Drinan did not seek re-election.

After his retirement from Congress in 1981, Drinan returned to academia, joining the Georgetown University Law Center until 2007 as a professor, specializing in international human rights, constitutional law, civil liberties, and arms control. He remained involved in politics, serving as president of the Americans for Democratic Action, as well as on the boards of the International League of Human Rights, the Lawyer's Committee for International Human Rights, the International Labor Rights Fund, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Throughout his political and academic careers Drinan was a prolific writer. He wrote numerous books, including Religion, the Courts and Public Policy (1963); Democracy, Dissent and Disorder (1969); Vietnam and Armageddon (1970); and Honor The Promise: America's Commitment to Israel (1977). He also wrote many magazine and journal articles, book reviews, and letters to the editor. He served as the corresponding editor to America for National Catholic Weekly from 1958-1970, and also as the editor in chief of Family Law Quarterly from 1967-1970.

Drinan spent the latter part of his life traveling extensively, going to Southeast Asia, Africa, and South and Central America. He died on January 28, 2007, at the age of 86.