Aime Forand



Aime Joseph Forand (May 23, 1895 – January 18, 1972) was a U.S. Democratic politician.

Biography
Aime Forand was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on May 23, 1895. He attended the public and parochial schools of Fall River, Magnus Commercial School in Providence, Rhode Island, and Columbia University.

During World War I Forand served in France as a member of the Army's Motor Transport Corps, attaining the rank of sergeant first class.

After the war Forand resided in Cumberland, Rhode Island and became a reporter for newspapers in Pawtucket and Woonsocket. A Democrat, he was a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1923 to 1926, and congressional secretary for Representative Jeremiah E. O'Connell from 1929 to 1930 and Francis B. Condon from 1930 to 1935. In 1935 and 1936 Forand was Chief of the Rhode Island Division of Soldiers’ Relief and Commandant of the Rhode Island Soldiers’ Home.

He was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island in 1936 and served from January 3, 1937, to January 3, 1939, having lost his re-election campaign in 1938. He sought election to the House in 1940 and won, and won re-election nine subsequent times, serving from January 3, 1941, to January 3, 1961.

In the 1950s, Forand was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He repeatedly introduced comprehensive legislation to reform public assistance. He and Cecil R. King first proposed legislation in 1957 that became known as Medicare and was enacted in 1965.

After leaving Congress Forand resided in Boca Raton, Florida and was the founder and first president of the National Council of Senior Citizens from 1961 to 1972.

He died in Boca Raton on January 18, 1972, and was interred at Boca Raton Municipal Cemetery and Mausoleum.