Frank P. Zeidler
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Frank P. Zeidler (September 20, 1912 – July 7, 2006) was an American socialist and mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving three terms from 1948 to 1960: the most recent socialist mayor of any major American city.
During his administration, Milwaukee grew industrially and never had to borrow money to repay loans. During this period, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size with a very aggressive campaign of municipal annexations. Large parts of the Town of Lake and most of the Town of Granville were annexed during this era. The park system was upgraded.
In the area of transportation, Frank Zeidler pushed the freeway agenda forward that was started under the administration of Mayor Bohn with the 1946 Origin-Destination Study. With the passage of the 1948 expressway bond issue--a bond issue the mayor opposed in the 1948 election--planning and construction of a freeway system began. The first segment--a portion of the South 44th Street Expressway--broke ground on St. Patrick's Day 1952. The freeway program was turned over to Milwaukee County and its Expressway Commission on March 26, 1954.
While mayor Frank Zeidler also oversaw the conversion of street cars to rubber transit, and the elimination of the city interurban lines in bankruptcy court. Throughout the 1950s he continued to express support for mass transit, which by then was directed towards bus service, and which would also operate over freeway routes as they were completed. The first major segment of the Milwaukee freeway system opened in January, 1962, almost 2 years after Zeidler left office.
Up until his death Mayor Zeidler supported a balanced transportation network that included freeway and mass transit improvements. He lamented the failure to save the interurban lines in bankruptcy court and the failure to complete the Northwest Freeway, a project that became the Stadium Freeway-North in the 1960s. The Stadium Freeway-North was never completed and a four mile gap exists between that freeway and the Fond du Lac Freeway. Mayor Zeidler maintained in the 1990s that a significant planning justification existed for completing the gap, a project that the late Milwaukee County Executive John Doyne suggested in Fall 1975.
His brother Carl Zeidler, the so-called "Singing Mayor," also served as mayor of Milwaukee from 1940 to 1942. Carl was more conservative in political philosophy than Frank. On June 13, 1958 he was the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. [1]
Zeidler was instrumental in re-forming the Socialist Party USA in 1973, and served as its National Chair for many years. He was the party's presidential nominee in 1976, getting on 10 state ballots. He and his running-mate, J. Quinn Brisben, won 6,038 votes.
Zeidler, who credited his activism as a socialist to his deep Lutheran faith, was active and involved in politics as a Socialist until his death at age 93. He is buried at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/08/ap/politics/mainD8IO3KG00.shtml
- "Years-old memoir of city's Zeidler years now published" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 30 2005
- "The Last Socialist Mayor". Interviewer, Amy Goodman. Democracy Now!. June 21, 2004.
- "Frank Zeidler, Milwaukee mayor from 1948-'60, dies" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel July 9, 2006
- Funeral service video clips includes tributes by Mayor Tom Barrett and historian John Gurda
- James J. Casey, Jr., "Mayor Frank P. Zeidler: Transportation Development in Post-War Milwaukee" (American Public Works Association, 2006).
| Preceded by: John Bohn |
Mayor of Milwaukee 1948–1960 |
Succeeded by: Henry W. Maier |
| Preceded by: — |
Socialist Party Presidential candidate 1976 (lost) |
Succeeded by: David McReynolds |
