Victor H. Schiro
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| Victor Schiro | |
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| In office July 17, 1961 – May 2, 1970 |
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| Preceded by | DeLesseps Story Morrison, Sr. |
| Succeeded by | Moon Landrieu |
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| Born | May 6, 1904 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | August 29, 1992 (aged 88) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Mary Margaret Gibbes, known as Sunny Schiro |
| Profession | Insurance |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Victor Hugo "Vic" Schiro (May 6, 1904 - August 29, 1992), was an Italian-American New Orleans, Louisiana, politician who served on the City Council and as Mayor from 1961 - 1970.
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[edit] Early life and political career
Schiro was born in Chicago, the son of Italian immigrants Andrew Edward and Mary (Pizzati) Schiro. After moving to New Orleans with his parents as a child, Schiro spent his young adulthood in Honduras and California, where he worked as a movie extra, and co-managed a Nevada gold mine before returning to New Orleans. He worked briefly as an assistant cameraman for Frank Capra. Having returned to New Orleans in 1928, Schiro became a radio announcer. In 1932, Schiro married Mary Margaret Gibbes, better known as Bunny Schiro.
Schiro founded his own insurance company and became an active civic leader in the 1940s; he was president of the Young Men’s Business Club. In 1950, he was elected commissioner of public buildings and parks. Under the new mayor-council charter of 1954, Schiro was elected councilman-at-large. When DeLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., resigned his position as Mayor in 1961 to become U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, the City Council elected Councilman Schiro, then Councilman-At-Large, as interim mayor. Despite the friction between Schiro and the popular outgoing mayor, Schiro was subsequently elected to two full terms in 1962 and 1965. Schiro inherited Morrison’s Crescent City Democratic Association, formed as a rival to the Regular Democratic Organization, but the political machine was deeply divided by the 1962 election, and it declined thereafter.
[edit] Schiro as mayor
Schiro has acquired a reputation for calm, quiet leadership during the turbulent 1960s. However, like his predecessor deLesseps Morrison, Schiro was an avowed segregationist. He defeated racial moderate Adrian G. Duplantier, who had Morrison's support, and several other opponents in the mayoral primary election of 1962 by stressing his segregationist credentials and tying his opponents to civil rights causes. Schiro then defeated the Republican candidate, Elliot Ross Buckley, a cousin of popular newspaper columnist William F. Buckley, Jr..
While personally opposed to integration, Schiro was a pragmatist and soon viewed integration as an unfortunate necessity. Business leaders prompted Schiro to deal with integration more effectively than Morrison had in order to preserve the city’s reputation and business climate. The opening of integrated schools in 1961 was peaceful, in contrast to the chaos of the year before. By using the New Orleans Police Department and U.S. marshals to prevent disturbances by white segregationists, Schiro managed to avoid a repeat of the notorious New Orleans school integration crisis of 1960. Schiro later dragged his feet on issues such as the appointment of a biracial committee and the hiring of black city workers. He closed public swimming pools rather than desegregate them and had Rev. A L. Davis arrested when the civil rights leader tried to meet with Schiro in the mayor's office.
Schiro had a simple governing philosophy, stating that "if it’s good for New Orleans, I’m for it." He built a new police and courts complex at Tulane and Broad and a new regional library, and initiated a code of ethics for city employees. Devoting much attention to urban planning, Schiro set up a regional planning commission to handle federal programs, and got New Orleans included in Lyndon Johnson’s Model Cities Program. His widening of the downtown Poydras Street corridor allowed for substantial development in the area in the following decade.
Schiro was mayor during Hurricane Betsy, which flooded the Lower Ninth Ward and much of eastern New Orleans in 1965. He was known for his famous statement to the media at the time: "Don't believe any false rumors, unless you hear them from me." He convinced President Johnson to visit the city on the day after the hurricane; Johnson and Schiro visited the Lower Ninth Ward and an emergency shelter. Schiro later travelled to Washington, D.C., to lend his support to obtaining congressional legislation that would give storm victims a $5,000 loan forgiveness package. The hurricane hit in the middle of Schiro's 1965 re-election campaign; though the Times Picayune and others accused Schiro of attempting to politicize the disaster, Schiro won re-election against his main opponent, Councilman Jimmy Fitzmorris. Also in the running was perennial mayoral candidate A. Roswell Thompson, a taxi operator and a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Mayor Schiro considered the arrival of the New Orleans Saints professional football team and the beginning of plans to build the Louisiana Superdome to be two of the foremost achievements of his administration. In 1969, the Dome Stadium Commission met in the City Council chambers in City Hall.
[edit] After City Hall
After his two terms as mayor, Schiro returned to selling insurance at his Victor Schiro Insurance Company. After a failed election campaign for the position of state insurance commissioner, he continued selling insurance until a stroke in 1988.
[edit] Trivia
In 1966, Walt Disney, shortly before his own death, had then New Orleans Mayor Schiro made "honorary mayor" of New Orleans Square, a part of Disneyland, the theme park in California. Schiro, in turn, made Disney an honorary citizen of the real New Orleans.
[edit] Sources and external links
- Victor H. Schiro collection at Tulane University
- Biographical Dictionary of American Mayors, 1820-1980. Greenwood Press, 1981.
- Fairclough, Adam. Race and Democracy: The Civil Rights Struggle in Louisiana, 1915-1972. University of Georgia, 1995.
- Haas, Edward F. "Victor H. Schiro, Hurricane Betsy, and the 'Forgiveness Bill.'" Gulf Coast Historical Review, Fall 1990.
- Hirsch, Arnold and Joseph Logsdon. Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization. LSU Press, 1992.
- Parker, Joseph B. The Morrison Era: Reform Politics in New Orleans. Pelican, 1974.
- Pope, John. "Former Mayor Victor H. Schiro is dead at 88." New Orleans Times-Picayune, August 30, 1992.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by DeLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., (D) |
Mayor of New Orleans |
Succeeded by Maurice L. "Moon" Landrieu (D) |
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