San Diego County
Biographies
THOMAS WHELAN
Self-educated, Thomas Whelan is
liberally endowed with those qualities which spur the individual ever onward
and upward, enabling him to leave the ranks of the many and take his place
among the successful few. Mr. Whelan is
one of the most talented of the younger members of the San Diego bar and since
1931 has served as District Attorney, clearly demonstrating that he is the
right man for the office. He was born in
O’Neill, Holt County, Nebraska, July 6, 1902, and pursued his education in his
native town until graduated from high school in 1919. Going to Omaha, Nebraska, he secured work in
a bank, where he was employed until the latter part of 1920, when he came to
San Diego. Taking up the study of law in
1921, he attended a night school conducted by The American Extension
University, and in 1924 was admitted to practice in all the courts of the state
of California.
Mr. Whelan began his legal career in
San Diego at that time but two years later, in 1926, laid aside his practice in
order to attend the university at Santa Clara, California, where he took a
course in philosophy and psychology.
With his return to San Diego in 1927 he was appointed deputy district
attorney for San Diego County and acted in that capacity for a year, resuming
private practice August 1, 1928. In 1930
he became a candidate for the office of district attorney, running against the
incumbent and one other opponent. In the
primary he led his nearest opponent by nine thousand votes and barely lacked
the majority necessary to win at the primary election. In the general election he secured more than
thirty-four thousand votes, leading his opponent by an excess of thirteen
thousand votes, and received the largest majority ever cast in favor of any man
elected to this office. When Mr. Whelan
cast his hat in the ring before the election he was but twenty-seven years of
age and at the time he was sworn into office he was twenty-eight, enjoying the
distinction of being the youngest man ever elected to fill an office as
important as that of district attorney in a county of this size.
In population San Diego County is
the fourth largest in California, ranking only behind Los Angeles, San
Francisco and Alameda counties, and the office of the district attorney handles
a tremendous amount of civil and criminal business. The district attorney prosecutes all criminal
cases in all township justices’ courts and in all superior courts of the County
of San Diego, in addition to being the legal advisor of all county
officials—including the board of supervisors—and the attorney who handles all
of the county’s civil business. For the
purpose of aiding him in the management and conduct of his office he has one
assistant and eleven deputies, as well as a competent investigating staff and
capable clerical force.
In 1931, which was the first year
that Mr. Whelan held this office, six hundred two felony cases were handled in
the superior court as against three hundred seventy-five felony cases in the
superior court handled in 1930 by his predecessor, Stephen Connell. Eight hundred fifty-three misdemeanor cases
were tried in the justices’ courts of San Diego Township. In the civil department of the office
twenty-nine cases were tried in the superior court, the district attorney’s
office winning twenty-eight of these cases and losing only one. During 1931 the investigating department of
the district attorney’s office handled eight hundred thirty-three cases and
obtained restitution in bad check cases where no criminal intent was involved
in ninety-eight specific instances in amounts ranging from five dollars to one
thousand dollars without having to take the cases into court.
As a public prosecutor Mr. Whelan
has been honest, courageous and efficient, following a course which has
elicited high commendation, as shown in the following article, which appeared
in the San Diego Tribune in July, 1931.
“Scientists say that both heredity and environment determine
character. In other words, not only who
you are but where you are. Some men and
women, however, seem to develop without relation to environment, succeeding as
easily in adverse surroundings as in favorable.
It is popularly supposed that the
environment of Southern California does not induce the success of young men,
due to the perfection of the climate, which invites to play every day in the
year. In fact, many people say that
while they can work hard in other parts of the world they find this section too
irresistible to stay indoors or do aught but breathe fresh air and indulge in
sports and recreations.
The idea of any San Diegan giving up
such pleasures in order to burn the midnight flame, as did Lincoln, seems
utterly preposterous. And yet it is
being done in this city by earnest young people superior to their alluring environment.
Schooled in Nebraska, where he won a
state oratorical contest at sixteen, Thomas Whelan finished off at the
University of Santa Clara, then went to work in a San Diego bank, and later was
with a title insurance company. In his
spare time he studied law under the direction of his father, who is a local
practicing attorney, with the result that Thomas was admitted to the bar at the
age of twenty-one—at the time the youngest lawyer in the United States. Still a very young man, Mr. Whelan is already
District Attorney, having scored a landslide plurality vote at last fall’s
election.
San Diegans have pride and
confidence in their young district attorney, who had the courage and
determination to succeed via the old-fashioned method of hard work and deprivation, . . . and whose record is one of action and
fearlessness in behalf of the people.”
On the 21st of January,
1928, Mr. Whelan was married to Miss Dorothy Elliott, of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and they have a daughter, Sue, aged three years. The residence of the family is at 3733
Amaryllis, Lerna Portal, San Diego. Mr. Whelan is a communicant of the Catholic
Church, and fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Columbus, the
Loyal Order of Moose and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His professional connections are with the San
Diego County Bar Association, the California State Bar Association and the
American Bar Association.
Source: California of the South
Vol. IV, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 345-348, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S SAN DIEGO BIOGRAPHIES