[4] McVann did not run for reelection in 1938 and O'Keefe defeated state representative John E. Murphy by 709 votes to become the city's chief executive.
O'Keefe refused provide funding for the hospital because he believed its director, James F. Ingraham, had been illegally elected.
The trustees stopped admitting new patients on December 20, 1939, and then closed the facility on January 31, 1940, due to a lack of money.
[10][11] A group of citizens sought to remove O'Keefe from office on the grounds that he had violated the Corrupt Practices Act by spending more on his reelection campaign than the statute allowed.
[16] In 1957 he ran in the special election to fill the Massachusetts House of Representatives seat that had been vacated by Philip J. Durkin.