John Dearden
Catholic cardinal (1907–1988)
John Francis Dearden (October 15, 1907 – August 1, 1988) was an American Catholic prelate who served as archbishop of Detroit in Michigan from 1958 to 1980, and was created a cardinal in 1969. He previously served as bishop of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania from 1950 to 1958. During his tenure in Pittsburgh, Dearden earned the nickname "Iron John" for his stern manner of administration.
In Detroit, Dearden was active in community causes, supporting equal employment opportunities and better racial relations in the city. He played an influential role at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. Dearden also served as the first president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Early life and education
John Dearden was born on October 15, 1907, in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, the eldest of five children of John Sidney and Agnes (née Gregory) Dearden. He received his early education at the parochial school of Holy Trinity Parish in Central Falls. At age 11, Dearden and his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio. He continued his education at St.
“John Dearden” enters the record as catholic cardinal (1907–1988). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what John, Dearden and Catholic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q976879. VIAF identifies the subject as 50842859. The Library of Congress control number is n90623841. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1907, 1988, 1958 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “John Dearden” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.