US Congressman, Lawyer. He was a United States Representative from the State of Maryland. He was born one of eight children as Joseph Patrick Roach O'Hara to Patrick Frank O'Hara (1860-1894), and his wife Kathryn "Catharine" Doyle O'Hara (1860-1901), in Tipton, Iowa, on January 23, 1895. Unfortunately both his parents had passed away when he was still young and he was raised by family friends. He was educated locally and he attended the common public schools, eventually graduating from the Spirit Lake High School in Spirit Lake, Iowa. During World War I, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in the Officers' Reserve Corps and later promoted to the rank of Captain in the Quartermaster Corps, serving from May 13, 1917, to August 15, 1919. He saw action overseas including in Brest, France, and was lastly commissioned a Major of Infantry in the Officers' Reserve Corps. Following the war and his military service, he then attended the Inns of Court in London, England, and upon his return to the United States, he played football in the position of halfback for Knute Rockne in 1916. He then studied law at the prestigious Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, and graduated from the law department there in 1920. He was admitted to the bar in 1921, and commenced his law practice in Glencoe, Minnesota, shortly thereafter. He served as an Attorney for various villages, towns, cities, and school districts and as County Attorney for McLeod County, Minnesota, from 1934 to 1938. He then decided to enter politics and he ran for a seat in the United States Congress and won the election replacing the outgoing United States Representative Elmer James Ryan (1907-1958), on January 3, 1941. A Member of the Republican Party, he then served Minnesota's 2nd District (the Seventy-Seventh Congress, the Seventy-Eighth Congress, the Seventy-Ninth Congress, the Eightieth Congress, the Eighty-First Congress, the Eighty-Second Congress, the Eighty-Third Congress, the Eighty-Fourth Congress, and the Eighty-Fifth Congress), in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1941, to January 3, 1959. In total, he was elected in 1940, reelected in 1942, reelected in 1944, reelected in 1946, reelected in 1948, reelected in 1950, reelected in 1952, reelected in 1954, and reelected again in 1956. During his time in the United States Congress, he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the Eighty-Fifth United States Congress and signed into law by then-President of the United States Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (1890-1969), on September 9, 1957. He was also a Member of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee and served as Vice Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee. He was not a Candidate for reelection to represent the Eighty-Sixth Congress in 1958, and he retired from public service shortly thereafter. Following his term in the United States Congress, he was succeeded in office by the incoming United States Representative Ancher Nelsen (1904-1992), on January 3, 1959. After leaving the United States Congress, he resumed his practice of law in the Washington, D.C., area where he had lived until his death on March 4, 1975, at the age of 80. He passed away after suffering a massive hemorrhage in Bethesda, Maryland, on March 4, 1975, at the age of 80. Following his death, his funeral services were held in Washington, D.C., and he was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was married to Leila Lee White O'Hara (1895-1980), with whom he had three children including, a son named Joseph Patrick O'Hara Jr. (1922-2004). His wife Leila survived him passing away in Washington, D.C., on May 14, 1980, at the age of 85, and she is also buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland. His son Joseph who served as a Corporal during World War II, passed away in Rollingstone, Minnesota, on February 26, 2004, at the age of 81, and he was buried in Saint Marys Cemetery in Oakridge, Minnesota. During his lifetime, he was also a longtime member of several prominent organizations and clubs including the American Bar Association and the American Legion.