Melvin Maas

Melvin Joseph Maas (May 14, 1898 – April 14, 1964) was a U.S. Representative from Minnesota.

Biography
Melvin Joseph Maas was born in Duluth, Minnesota, May 14, 1898. He moved with his parents to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1898. Educated in the public schools, he graduated from St. Thomas College at St. Paul in 1919 and also attended the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. He worked in the insurance business.

During the World War I, Maas served in the aviation branch of the United States Marine Corps in 1918 and 1919. He left active duty in 1925 and served in the Marine Corps Reserve, retiring on August 1, 1952 at the rank of major general.

Maas was elected as a Republican to the 70th, 71st, and 72nd Congresses (March 4, 1927 – March 3, 1933). He ran unsuccessfully for renomination in 1932.

On December 13, 1932, a 25-year old department store clerk from Pennsylvania pulled a gun in the House visitors' gallery and demanded to be allowed to address the House. As members fled the chamber, Maas stood his ground and shouted to the man that no one was allowed to speak in the House while carrying a weapon and demanded that he throw it down. The man did so, was promptly arrested, and escorted from the House Chamber by police. For this act of courage, Maas received the Carnegie Medal.

He was re-elected to the 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, and 78th Congresses (January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1945). Maas served in the South Pacific as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1942 while still a Member of Congress. He again was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944 to the 79th Congress.

Maas was special advisor to the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1946. From 1947 to 1951, he was assistant to the chairman of the board of the Sperry Corporation in New York City.

In 1949, he became a member of the President’s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped; he served as chairman from 1954 to 1964. He had been stricken with total blindness in August 1951.

Maas was a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland until his death in Bethesda, Maryland on April 13, 1964. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Papers
Correspondence, reports, photographs, diaries, and professional papers are available for research use.