James Whyte Kelly Jr. (1911–1990) was an American Republican Party politician who was Mayor of East Orange, New Jersey from 1958 to 1970.

[1] He graduated from Bound Brook High School in 1929 and attended Muhlenberg College where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega.

[3] Kelly received the designation of Outstanding Irishman of 1958 by the Patrick's Guard of Honor of New Jersey, a body of which he was president in 1975.

In the 1940s he served as a city councilman in Middlesex, New Jersey and worked as a purchasing agent for Interchemical Corporation.

[9] Kelly was defeated in 1969 by William S. Hart, the first elected black mayor of a major New Jersey community.