Tom Bradley (politician)

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For other persons named Tom Bradley, see Tom Bradley (disambiguation).

Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, 1973-1993

Thomas J. "Tom" Bradley (December 29, 1917 – September 29, 1998) was the mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1973 to 1993 (five terms) and the second African American mayor of a major U.S. city. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1982 and 1986. In 1982 he was narrowly defeated by then California Attorney General George Deukmejian. On election night, in fact, a number of news organizations made early projections that Bradley had won. In the final tally, however, Deukmejian carried the day by fewer than 53,000 votes. Bradley ran against Deukmejian again in 1986, but the governor won that election by a 61%-37% margin.

1 Early life
2 Mayor of Los Angeles
3 Quotations
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Early life

His upbringing began in Calvert, Texas, as the son of a sharecropper, and the grandson of former slaves. By the time he attended Los Angeles Poly High School, Tom Bradley starred in both football and track. He later went on to attend UCLA. Bradley became a member of the Los Angeles Police Department in 1940 and became a Lieutenant, the highest rank held by an African American police officer in the city of Los Angeles at that time. While working on the force, he studied at night at Southwestern University School of Law and received his law degree. Bradley would later pass the bar exam to become a lawyer.

He would later serve on the Los Angeles City Council from 1963 to 1972, where he twice ran for Mayor. In 1963, he, along with Billy G. Mills, would become the first African Americans elected to the City Council in modern times. His 10th District was centered in the multi-ethnic Crenshaw area, the majority of whose voters were white. During his tenure, he spoke out against racial segregation within the LAPD, as well as the department’s handling of the Watts Riots in 1965.

In 1969, Bradley first challenged incumbent Mayor Sam Yorty for the City's top job. Armed with key endorsements (including the Los Angeles Times), Bradley held a substantial lead over Yorty in the primary, but was a few percentage points shy of winning the race outright. However, in the run-off, to the dismay of supporters such as Abigail Folger, Yorty pulled an amazing come from behind victory to win reelection primarily because he played racial politics. Yorty questioned Bradley's credibility in fighting crime and painted a picture of Bradley as a threat to Los Angeles because he would open the city up to Black Nationalists. While Yorty's campaign was underhanded, it worked primarily because Bradley did not use his record as a police officer in the election and the fact that race was used as a factor, even many liberal white voters became hesitant. It would be another four years before Bradley would successfully unseat Yorty.

[edit] Mayor of Los Angeles

During Bradley's tenure as mayor, Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Summer Olympic Games and passed Chicago to become the second most populous city in the country. The 1992 Los Angeles riots and the formation of the Christopher Commission also occurred on his watch. The Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX is named in his honor.

Bradley served for twenty years as mayor of Los Angeles, surpassing Fletcher Bowron with the longest tenure in that office. Bradley was offered a cabinet-level position in the administration of President Jimmy Carter, which he refused. In 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale considered Bradley as a finalist for the vice presidential nomination, which eventually went to U.S. Rep. Geraldine Ferraro.[1]

Bradley ran for Governor of California twice, in 1982 and 1986, but lost both times to George Deukmejian. In 1982, the election was extremely close, and some news organizations projected Bradley as the winner. In 1984, Bradley was seriously considered as a potential running mate by Walter Mondale. On his second run for governor, Bradley lost to Deukmejian by a wide margin in 1986.

Bradley died of a heart attack at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 80 in 1998. He was married to Ethel Arnold and had two daughters, Lorraine and Phyllis.

[edit] Quotations

"I’m not a black this or a black that. I’m just Tom Bradley."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by Sam Yorty	Mayor of Los Angeles, California 1973—1993	Succeeded by Richard Riordan
Preceded by Joe E. Hollingsworth	Los Angeles City Councilman 10th district 1963—1973	Succeeded by David Cunningham