Marion Zioncheck, A Democrat in the House of Representatives, was killed after falling, whether pushed or jumped, out of a window in Seattle in 1936. A note was found in his office where he fell from, reading "My only hope in life was to improve the condition of an unfair economic system that held no promise to those that all the wealth of a decent chance to survive let alone live."
His death was ruled a suicide. Because Zioncheck had decided not to run for a 3rd term and had been described as depressed by colleagues, people suspected he was done with life feeling like he had nothing left. He was a hardcore supporter of the New Deal, and given frustration and bizarre behavior regarding his policies it was easy for investigators to look past the potential of murder. But family members disagreed, and they believed he had been pushed. Additionally, a current Seattle police captain who is familiar with the case does not believe it was a suicide. While Zioncheck's brother in law, William Nadeau, had told the police at the time that he walked up to the office and actually saw Zioncheck jump out and tried to grab him as he did. The police captain, Neil Low, currently occupies the office that Zioncheck occupied in 1936. This was the cause for his further investigation, and along with others, he holds the opinion that Nadeau's story has flaws such as the amount of detail given despite it being a traumatic event for Nadeau.
Zioncheck's successor, his friend who Zioncheck had offered his seat too in his retirement, was the King County prosecutor, Warren Magnuson. But what was not widely known was that the building that Zioncheck fell from was his campaign headquarters for the election of that year. Magnuson went on to be elected to the Senate and arguably one of Washington's most influential politicians ever.
Source:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Suicide-or-murder-75th-anniversary-of-pol-s-1740520.php
http://www.historylink.org/File/5528
Great post! I am very curios as to why he may have been depressed and why suicide was a possibility. If we look at the great depression statistically, a lot of hope was regained by 1936 as the unemployment rates gradually decreased with the new deal. To me there seems like there is not political nor economical motive for a supporter of the New Deal to be depressed as everything as going as planned. On the other side, murder is just as illogical as the entire country was supportive of the new deal as we can see with the election results for FDR. I guess some things have to be left as a mystery?
ReplyDeletesources:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1528.html
https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1932
This is a sobering example that history is still made up of individuals, even as we still look at individual friends. The fact that one of Washington's most influential politicians may have gotten his seat as a result of depression or potential murder is also a reminder of the role chance plays in history.
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