Meyer London
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Meyer London (1871 – 1926) was one of two Socialist Party members elected to the United States Congress.
London was born in Kalvarija, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1871. In 1891, he emigrated to the United States, taking up residence in New York's largely Jewish Lower East Side. London became a labor lawyer representing labor unions. He ran for Congress three times as a Socialist and was defeated by Tammany Hall-supported Democrats, but in 1914, London was elected to Congress from his Lower East Side district.
He was the second Socialist elected to Congress, following Wisconsin's Victor Berger. His vote against the American entry into World War I and subsequent votes against the Espionage Act angered his constituency, and he lost reelection in 1918. Two years later, in 1920, the Lower East Side sent London back to Congress. He was defeated for reelection in 1922.
London died after being hit by an automobile in 1926. Ironically, in spite of his votes against the earlier war, he became the namesake of a World War II Liberty ship, the SS Meyer London, launched in 1943.
One of the buildings of Hillman Housing Corporation, a housing cooperative founded by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is named after him.
| Preceded by Henry M. Goldfogle |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th congressional district 1915–1919 |
Succeeded by Henry M. Goldfogle |
| Preceded by Henry M. Goldfogle |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 12th congressional district 1921–1923 |
Succeeded by Samuel Dickstein |
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