Matthew J. Connelly

He lived in Cicero, Illinois. Connelly died age 68 on July 10, 1976, in Oak Park, Illinois, at Rust Suburban Hospital from cancer.

In a 1967 interview with Truman Library oral historian Jerry N. Hess, Stephen J. Spingarn, Federal Trade Commission Commissioner (1950–1953), suspected that Max Lowenthal and Connelly "stuck the knife in me." Philleo Nash told Spingarn it was Connelly, influenced by Lowenthal:

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy granted Connelly "a full and unconditional pardon."

In 1955, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Connelly and T. Lamar Caudle for accepting a bribe and conspiring to defraud the government. In 1956, he received a conviction. In 1960, he served six months in prison.

In January 1945, he served as Executive Secretary to newly elected Vice President Truman.

In April 1945 through 1953, he served as Appointments Secretary to President Truman.

In July 1944, he became Executive Assistant to Senator Truman.

In 1941, he served as chief investigator of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, known as the "Truman Committee." Investigators who reported to him included: Hugh Fulton, William S. Cole, Rudolph Halley, Walter Hehmeyer, Robert L. Irvin, Donald M. Lathrom, and Frank E. Lowe.

In 1940, he joined the staff of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures, chaired by U.S. Representative Guy Gillette. There, he worked under subcommittee chair U.S. Senator J. Lister Hill "to investigate the Kelly-Nash machine" in Chicago and then the Wendell Willkie campaign in Alabama. Senator Lister had Connelly join the Truman Committee.

In 1939, he joined the staff of the House Appropriations Committee, chaired by U.S. Representative Clarence Cannon and investigated the Works Progress Administration.

In 1933, Connelly began civil service with federal relief agencies based in Boston and then Washington, DC. In 1935, moved to Washington. In 1938, his first job on the Hill in DC was "investigation of the relief program"—that is, "the local welfare program."

In 1930, he graduated from Fordham University and began his career as a stockbroker in New York City.

Matthew J. Connelly (November 19, 1907 – July 10, 1976) was an American civil servant under Harry S. Truman, who having risen to Executive Secretary to Vice President Truman and then Appointments Secretary to President Truman, was indicted for bribery in 1955, convicted in 1956, served six months in prison in 1960, and was granted a full pardon by President John F. Kennedy in 1962.