Jobless Party

James Renshaw Cox
Born	March 7, 1886 Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania
Died	March 20, 1951 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality	United States
Other names	Father Cox
Education	Duquesne University, St. Vincent Seminary, University of Pittsburgh
Occupation	Catholic priest
Employer	Diocese of Pittsburgh
Known for	Cox's Army
Relatives	Captain John Cox

Father James Renshaw Cox (1886–1951) was an American Roman Catholic priest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, known for his pro-labor activism. He was a candidate for President of the United States in 1932, and also an organizer of an unprecedented protest march on Washington, DC.

Cox was born in 1886 in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, growing up in an unparalleled period of industrial expansion. He began as a cab driver and steelworker, working his way through Duquesne University. He next entered Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and was ordained in 1911. From 1917 to 1919, he served in World War I as chaplain at Mongoson, France.

After the war, he enrolled in the University of Pittsburgh, earning a master of economics degree, and he was appointed pastor in 1923 at Old St. Patrick's Church in the Strip District. During the Great Depression, he organized a food-relief program and helped the homeless and unemployed find shelter.

In January 1932, Cox led a march of 25,000 unemployed Pennsylvanians, dubbed "Cox's Army", on Washington, D.C, the largest demonstration to date in the nation's capital. He hoped the action would stir Congress to start a public works program and to increase the inheritance tax to 70%. Even Pennsylvania's Republican governor Gifford Pinchot backed Cox's march. Pinchot hoped Cox would back his own hopes to wrest away the Republican nomination for president away from Hoover. Cox had other plans.

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