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{{Short description|American politician (1912–2006)}} |
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'''Frank P. Zeidler''' (born [[1912]]) was a [[socialist]] [[mayor]] of [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]] from [[1948]] to [[1960]]. |
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{{Infobox officeholder |
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| name = Frank Zeidler |
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| image name = Frank_Zeidler.png |
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| caption = |
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| order = 41st |
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| office = Mayor of Milwaukee |
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| term_start = April 20, 1948 |
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| term_end = April 18, 1960 |
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| predecessor = [[John Bohn]] |
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| succeeded = [[Henry Maier]] |
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| birth_name = Frank Paul Zeidler |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1912|9|20|mf=y}} |
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| birth_place = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S. |
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| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2006|07|7|1912|09|20}} |
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| death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
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| party = [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]]<br>[[Socialist Party USA]] |
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| spouse = |
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| relatives = [[Carl Zeidler]] (brother) |
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| alma_mater = [[University of Chicago]]<br />[[Marquette University]]<br />[[University of Wisconsin]] |
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| website = |
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}} |
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{{Socialism US|people}} |
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'''Frank Paul Zeidler''' (September 20, 1912 – July 7, 2006) was an American [[socialism|socialist]] politician and [[mayor]] of [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], serving three terms from April 20, 1948, to April 18, 1960. Zeidler, a member of the [[Socialist Party of America]], is the most recent [[List of elected socialist mayors in the United States|Socialist Party candidate to be elected mayor]] of a large American city.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ferré-Sadurní|first=Luis|date=2021-06-23|title=How India Walton Pulled It Off in the Buffalo Mayoral Primarywork=The New York Times|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/nyregion/india-walton-socialist-nyc-primary-buffalo.html|access-date=2021-06-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS346| title = Frank Zeidler Dies — The Last American Socialist {{!}} Wisconsin Historical Society| date = 3 August 2012}} </ref> |
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== Early life and career == |
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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. Federal funding was obtained to complete the highway system that had started under [[Daniel Hoan]]. The park system was upgraded. |
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Zeidler was born in [[Milwaukee]] on September 20, 1912. He studied at both the [[University of Chicago]] and [[Marquette University]], but was never able to [[graduation|graduate]] due to ill health. He became a socialist because of socialism's emphasis on peace and improving the conditions for workers.<ref name="history">{{ cite news|title=Frank Zeidler – The Last American Socialist |url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2006/07/the_last_americ.asp |publisher=Wisconsin History |date=July 9, 2006 |access-date=August 12, 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111212215/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2006/07/the_last_americ.asp |archive-date=January 11, 2007 }}</ref> |
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In an interview, Zeidler said he chose the ideology of socialism in 1933 "because of several things in its philosophy. One was the brotherhood of people all over the world. Another was its struggle for peace. Another was the equal distribution of economic goods. Another was the idea of cooperation. A fifth was the idea of democratic planning in order to achieve your goals. Those were pretty good ideas". He distanced himself from the beliefs of [[communism]], especially communism linked in any way to the [[Soviet Union]]. Indeed, he was (and remained) an active Lutheran, a religious commitment which he saw as being fulfilled rather than contradicted by his Socialist activism.<ref name="historyt"/> |
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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. |
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Later, however, he credited his adoption of socialism to reading [[left-wing]] literature, with the majority being written by [[Eugene V. Debs]] and [[Norman Thomas]] during the [[Great Depression]].<ref>{{cite news |title= On this day: September 20 |url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/thisday/index.asp?day=20&month=9 |publisher= Wisconsin History |access-date= February 3, 2010 |archive-date= July 12, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180712024402/https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/thisday/index.asp?day=20&month=9 |url-status= dead }}</ref> |
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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. |
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Zeidler became an active member of the [[Young People's Socialist League (1907)|Young People's Socialist League]] (YPSL), the [[Youth wing|youth branch]] of the [[Socialist Party of America]], he later became the leader of the Milwaukee branch of the [[Red Falcons]] during the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mu.edu/cgi-bin/cuap/db.cgi?uid=default&ID=4970&view=Search&mh=1 |title=Red Falcons: Children and the Socialist Party in Milwaukee | author=Tatlock, Julie | publisher= [[Marquette University]] |access-date=February 3, 2010}}</ref> |
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Zeidler, who credits his activism as a [[Socialist]] to his deep [[Lutheran]] faith, is still living and involved in politics as a Socialist as he nears one hundred years of age. |
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== |
== Elections == |
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{{Moresources|section|date=June 2023}} |
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*[[List of mayors of Milwaukee]] |
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Zeidler was elected [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin|Milwaukee County]] [[Surveying|Surveyor]] in 1938 on the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924-46)|Progressive Party]] ballot line (the Socialist Party and Progressives were in coalition in Milwaukee at that time).<ref>"New Farmer-Labor-Progressive Bloc Facing First Test as Milwaukee's Registrations Set Primary Record". ''[[Evening Independent]]'' (St. Petersburg), Associated Press, March 17, 1936, p. 12-A.</ref> |
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He was elected to a six-year term on the [[Milwaukee Public Schools|Milwaukee Board of School Directors]] (a non-partisan office) in 1941, just after his brother [[Carl Zeidler]] was elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1940.<ref name="historyt">{{ cite news | author = Borsuk, Alan J. | title = Mayor served 'the public welfare' | url = http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=459264 | work = [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] | date = July 8, 2006 | access-date = February 3, 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060711031644/http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=459264 | archive-date = July 11, 2006 }}</ref> In 1942, Frank Zeidler was the Socialist nominee for [[Governor of Wisconsin]], receiving 1.41% of the vote in a six-way race. He was re-elected to the Milwaukee School Board in 1947. |
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*[http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/may05/329958.asp?format=print "Years-old memoir of city's Zeidler years now published"]The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. May 30th, 2005 |
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* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/21/1410236&mode=thread&tid=25 ''The Last Socialist Mayor'']. Frank Zeidler, Mayor of Milwaukee (1948-1960). Interviewer, Amy Goodman. [[Democracy Now!]]. Monday, June 21st, 2004. Retrieved May 12, 2005. |
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After two years in office, Carl Zeidler enlisted in the Navy at the height of World War II. Carl was killed at sea when his ship was lost and became a local hero, helping to pave the way for his younger brother to become mayor. In 1948 Frank Zeidler ran for mayor in a crowded field of fourteen candidates and won, undoubtedly aided by the familiarity of his surname.<ref name="Magazine">Frank Zeidler's Milwaukee, by John McCarthy, ''Next American City'', Winter 2007</ref> The large field of candidates was due to Mayor [[John Bohn]] declining to seek re-election in 1948. Among the candidates that year was attorney [[Henry S. Reuss]], a Democrat who later went on to win election to Congress in 1954. Zeidler was re-elected in 1952 and 1956, but declined to seek another term in 1960, citing health reasons. |
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{{start box}} |
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{{succession box | |
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Zeidler was Milwaukee's third Socialist mayor (after [[Emil Seidel]] [1910-12] and [[Daniel Hoan]] [1916-40]), making Milwaukee the largest American city to elect three Socialists to its highest office (a fact that singer [[Alice Cooper]] pointed out in the 1992 film ''[[Wayne's World (film)|Wayne's World]]''). |
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before=[[John Bohn]]| |
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title=[[List of mayors of Milwaukee|Mayor of Milwaukee]]| |
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== Mayoralty == |
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years=1948–1960| |
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During Frank Zeidler's administration, Milwaukee grew industrially and never had to borrow money to repay loans. During this period, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size with an aggressive campaign of municipal annexations: large parts of the [[Lake, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin|Town of Lake]] and most of the [[Granville, Wisconsin|Town of Granville]] were annexed to the city. The park system was upgraded. Zeidler spearheaded planning and construction of the beginning of Milwaukee's freeway system, and turned it over to [[Milwaukee County]] in 1954. A transportation advocate claims that Zeidler always maintained that the projected Milwaukee freeway system should have been built and that the city's competitiveness had been compromised by the failure to complete the planned system.<ref>[http://www.apwa.net/bookstore/detail.asp?PC=PB.A631 Casey, James J., Jr., ''Mayor Frank P. Zeidler: Transportation Development in Post-War Milwaukee''. American Public Works Association, 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723015140/http://www2.apwa.net/bookstore/detail.asp?pc=pb.a631 |date=2011-07-23 }}</ref> |
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after=[[Henry W. Maier]] |
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Zeidler's plans for the city were only a partial success. Milwaukee doubled in area through annexation and it experienced very little decline in population during a period of American urban decline starting in the 1960s and lasting until about 1990. Suburban residents and governments fiercely resisted annexation and the politics of regional Milwaukee became highly factional. An attorney who sued to block annexation claimed Zeidler planted listening devices in his office. Zeidler, angry about the resistance to his plans, said in 1958: "The city consults with suburban governments, but we do not believe they have reason for existing."<ref name="Magazine"/> |
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Zeidler faced the vexing issue of race relations as Milwaukee's [[African-American]] population tripled during the 1950s. Zeidler was a vocal supporter of the civil rights movement and his opponents tried to exploit this to their advantage. Zeidler's political enemies spread false rumors that Zeidler had put billboards in the South asking blacks to come north. Many workers in Milwaukee were threatened for supporting Zeidler. One manufacturer even threatened to fire employees who voted for Zeidler. Zeidler cited bad personal health and the race issue as reasons for not running for re-election in 1960.<ref name="Magazine"/> |
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A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] ranked Zeidler as the twenty-first-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Holli | first = Melvin G. | title = The American Mayor | publisher = PSU Press | year = 1999 | location = University Park | url = https://archive.org/details/americanmayorbes0000holl | isbn = 0-271-01876-3 }}</ref> |
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== Later years and death == |
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After leaving office, Frank Zeidler worked as a [[mediation|mediator]], as [[development director]] for [[Alverno College]], and served in the administration of [[List of Governors of Wisconsin|Wisconsin Governor]] [[John W. Reynolds, Jr.|John W. Reynolds]]. As a leader of the Public Enterprise Committee, Zeidler was a frequent and severe critic of his successor, [[Henry Maier]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/WPOH/budelman.pdf|title=Interview with Mr. Richard Budelman, Former aide to Mayor Henry Maier|first=John R.|last=Johannes|date=May 22, 1994|publisher=Marquette University}}</ref> He supported a number of unsuccessful attempts to defeat Maier in subsequent elections. |
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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 ten state ballots. The party had 400-600 members nationwide at the time. Zeidler agreed to run when other leading members of the SPUSA declined to do so. He and his running mate, [[J. Quinn Brisben]], received 6,038 votes, including approximately 2,500 in [[Milwaukee County, Wisconsin]].<ref name="Horan">{{cite news|url=http://www.jsonline.com/story/life/green-sheet/2016/11/02/our-back-pages-when-presidential-candidate-spent-election-night-milwaukee/92837278/|title=Our Back Pages: When a presidential candidate spent election night in Milwaukee|last=Horan|first=Chris|date=November 2, 2016|work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]|access-date=3 November 2016}}</ref> |
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On July 26, 2004, Zeidler appeared at the [[2004 Green National Convention|2004 Green Party National Convention]] in Milwaukee to welcome delegates to the convention.<ref>{{YouTube|Eogibcdug18|Video of Zeidler's welcome}}</ref> |
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He died on July 7, 2006, aged 93, and was interred at [[Forest Home Cemetery]] in Milwaukee. His mayoral and personal papers are archived at [[Milwaukee Public Library]]. Several additional boxes of his papers are archived at the [[Golda Meir Library]] of the [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]].<ref>[http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil000dj The Papers of Frank Zeidler at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Golda Meir Library]. Accessed June 30, 2023.</ref> |
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== Writing, scholarship, and legacy == |
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Zeidler wrote several books, including not only treatises on [[municipal government]], [[labor law]], socialism, and [[history of Milwaukee|Milwaukee history]], but [[poetry]], renditions of four of [[Shakespeare]]'s plays into present-day English, and [[children's fiction|children's stories]]. His 1961 memoir of his time as mayor, ''A Liberal in City Government'', was published in 2005 by Milwaukee Publishers LLC, a local company formed for the purpose.<ref>Stephenson, Crocker. "Years-old memoir of city's Zeidler years now published". ''[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]]'', pg. 2B, May 30, 2005.</ref> |
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On June 13, 1958, Zeidler was the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the [[University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee]],<ref>[http://www4.uwm.edu/alumni/about/famous.cfm "A Few of UWM's Noted Alumni"], uwm.edu. Accessed June 30, 2023.</ref> which now sponsors the Frank P. Zeidler International |
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Graduate Student Travel Award, a [[scholarship]] enabling a non-American scholar to study for a [[master's degree]] in [[history of the United States|American history]] at UWM.<ref>[http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/history/graduate/assistantships.cfm#history The UW-Milwaukee Frank P. Zeidler International Graduate Student Travel Award] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318061811/http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/history/graduate/assistantships.cfm#history |date=2015-03-18 }}, uwm.edu. Accessed June 30, 30, 2023.</ref> The [[Wisconsin Labor History Society]] also sponsors an annual undergraduate Frank P. Zeidler Scholarship in [[Labor history (discipline)|labor history]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org/?page_id=58 |title="Zeidler Scholarships" ''Wisconsin Labor History Society'' |access-date=2013-04-09 |archive-date=2013-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130715035329/http://www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org/?page_id=58 |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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The [[Milwaukee Public Library]]'s historic collections are housed in the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, named in his honor.{{cn|date=June 2023}} |
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On May 21, 2006, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from [[Cardinal Stritch University]] in Milwaukee.{{cn|date=June 2023}} |
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An urban park in downtown Milwaukee bears Zeidler's name. Zeidler Union Park (originally named for priest and explorer [[Jacques Marquette]])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wibandshellsandstands.com/milwaukee-zeidler-union-square.html | title=Milwaukee Zeidler Union Square }}</ref> now hosts the Westown Farmer's Market and other smaller festivals and gatherings. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.travelwisconsin.com/county-parks/zeidler-union-square-229549 | title=Zeidler Union Square | Travel Wisconsin }}</ref> |
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== Family == |
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Zeidler's daughter, Jeanne Zeidler, served as mayor of [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]], [[Virginia]], from 1998 until 2010, when she retired.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.williamsburgva.gov/Index.aspx?page=262 |title="Past Mayors and Governors" |access-date=2013-04-09 |archive-date=2012-03-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308053711/http://www.williamsburgva.gov/Index.aspx?page=262 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dailypress.com/2010/06/29/zeidler-looks-back-on-career-as-williamsburgs-first-female-mayor/ |title="Zeidler looks back on career as Williamsburg's first female mayor" |access-date=2015-07-27 |archive-date=2015-10-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017173706/http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-06-29/news/dp-nws-williamsburg-zeidler-20100629_1_jeanne-zeidler-williamsburg-james-city-county-courthouse-mayor |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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== See also == |
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* [[List of elected socialist mayors in the United States]] |
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== References == |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==Further reading== |
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* Hayes, Paul G. "[https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AAXH24HP4NYY5C8M/pages/AV76NE2ZBKL7X482 Remembering Zeidler]". ''Wisconsin People & Ideas'', vol. 52, no. 4 (Fall 2006), pp. 30–32. |
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== External links == |
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*[https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/uwmoh/id/72 Oral History Interview with Frank Zeidler, July 17, 1981] |
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050428060908/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04%2F06%2F21%2F1410236&mode=thread&tid=25 "The Last Socialist Mayor"]. Interviewer, Amy Goodman. ''[[Democracy Now!]]''. June 21, 2004. |
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* [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/before-sanders-there-was-frank-zeidler-a-religious-socialist.html "Before Bernie Sanders, There Was Zeidler, a Religious Socialist"], ''The New York Times'' |
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312040254/http://www.milwaukeepublishers.com/funeral.html Funeral service video clips] includes tributes by Mayor Tom Barrett and historian [[John Gurda]] |
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{{s-off}} |
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{{succession box |
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| before = [[John Bohn]] |
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| title = [[List of mayors of Milwaukee|Mayor of Milwaukee]] |
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| years = 1948–1960 |
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| after = [[Henry Maier|Henry W. Maier]] |
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}} |
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{{s-bef|before=[[Solomon Levitan]]}} |
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before=—| |
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Wisconsin Progressive Party|Progressive]] nominee for [[State Treasurer of Wisconsin]]|years=1940}} |
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title=[[Socialist Party USA|Socialist Party]] [[President of the United States|Presidential]] [[:Category:Socialist Party USA presidential nominees|candidate]]| |
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{{s-aft|after=Albert C. Johnson}} |
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years=[[U.S. presidential election, 1976|1976]] (lost)| |
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{{succession box |
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after=[[David McReynolds]] |
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| title = [[Socialist Party USA|Socialist Party]] [[President of the United States|Presidential]] [[:Category:Socialist Party USA presidential nominees|candidate]] |
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| years = [[1976 U.S. presidential election|1976]] (lost) |
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| before = [[Darlington Hoopes]] (1956) |
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| after = [[David McReynolds]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{end |
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{{Mayors of the City of Milwaukee}} |
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{{Socialist Party USA}} |
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{{Authority control}} |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeidler, Frank P.}} |
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[[Category:Socialist Party USA presidential nominees|Zeidler, Frank P.]] |
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[[Category:American political party founders]] |
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[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]] |
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[[Category:Marquette University alumni]] |
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[[Category:Mayors of Milwaukee]] |
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[[Category:Politicians from Milwaukee]] |
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[[Category:Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin]] |
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[[Category:Socialist Party USA presidential nominees]] |
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[[Category:Candidates in the 1976 United States presidential election]] |
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[[Category:University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni]] |
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[[Category:Writers from Wisconsin]] |
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[[Category:School board members in Wisconsin]] |
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[[Category:Lutheran socialists]] |
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[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin]] |
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[[Category:Burials at Forest Home Cemetery]] |
Latest revision as of 05:05, 3 December 2024
Frank Zeidler | |
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41st Mayor of Milwaukee | |
In office April 20, 1948 – April 18, 1960 | |
Preceded by | John Bohn |
Succeeded by | Henry Maier |
Personal details | |
Born | Frank Paul Zeidler September 20, 1912 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |
Died | July 7, 2006 Milwaukee, Wisconsin | (aged 93)
Political party | Socialist Socialist Party USA |
Relatives | Carl Zeidler (brother) |
Alma mater | University of Chicago Marquette University University of Wisconsin |
This article is part of a series on |
Socialism in the United States |
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Frank Paul Zeidler (September 20, 1912 – July 7, 2006) was an American socialist politician and mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving three terms from April 20, 1948, to April 18, 1960. Zeidler, a member of the Socialist Party of America, is the most recent Socialist Party candidate to be elected mayor of a large American city.[1][2]
Early life and career
[edit]Zeidler was born in Milwaukee on September 20, 1912. He studied at both the University of Chicago and Marquette University, but was never able to graduate due to ill health. He became a socialist because of socialism's emphasis on peace and improving the conditions for workers.[3]
In an interview, Zeidler said he chose the ideology of socialism in 1933 "because of several things in its philosophy. One was the brotherhood of people all over the world. Another was its struggle for peace. Another was the equal distribution of economic goods. Another was the idea of cooperation. A fifth was the idea of democratic planning in order to achieve your goals. Those were pretty good ideas". He distanced himself from the beliefs of communism, especially communism linked in any way to the Soviet Union. Indeed, he was (and remained) an active Lutheran, a religious commitment which he saw as being fulfilled rather than contradicted by his Socialist activism.[4]
Later, however, he credited his adoption of socialism to reading left-wing literature, with the majority being written by Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas during the Great Depression.[5]
Zeidler became an active member of the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL), the youth branch of the Socialist Party of America, he later became the leader of the Milwaukee branch of the Red Falcons during the 1930s.[6]
Elections
[edit]This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2023) |
Zeidler was elected Milwaukee County Surveyor in 1938 on the Progressive Party ballot line (the Socialist Party and Progressives were in coalition in Milwaukee at that time).[7]
He was elected to a six-year term on the Milwaukee Board of School Directors (a non-partisan office) in 1941, just after his brother Carl Zeidler was elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1940.[4] In 1942, Frank Zeidler was the Socialist nominee for Governor of Wisconsin, receiving 1.41% of the vote in a six-way race. He was re-elected to the Milwaukee School Board in 1947.
After two years in office, Carl Zeidler enlisted in the Navy at the height of World War II. Carl was killed at sea when his ship was lost and became a local hero, helping to pave the way for his younger brother to become mayor. In 1948 Frank Zeidler ran for mayor in a crowded field of fourteen candidates and won, undoubtedly aided by the familiarity of his surname.[8] The large field of candidates was due to Mayor John Bohn declining to seek re-election in 1948. Among the candidates that year was attorney Henry S. Reuss, a Democrat who later went on to win election to Congress in 1954. Zeidler was re-elected in 1952 and 1956, but declined to seek another term in 1960, citing health reasons.
Zeidler was Milwaukee's third Socialist mayor (after Emil Seidel [1910-12] and Daniel Hoan [1916-40]), making Milwaukee the largest American city to elect three Socialists to its highest office (a fact that singer Alice Cooper pointed out in the 1992 film Wayne's World).
Mayoralty
[edit]During Frank Zeidler's administration, Milwaukee grew industrially and never had to borrow money to repay loans. During this period, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size with an aggressive campaign of municipal annexations: large parts of the Town of Lake and most of the Town of Granville were annexed to the city. The park system was upgraded. Zeidler spearheaded planning and construction of the beginning of Milwaukee's freeway system, and turned it over to Milwaukee County in 1954. A transportation advocate claims that Zeidler always maintained that the projected Milwaukee freeway system should have been built and that the city's competitiveness had been compromised by the failure to complete the planned system.[9]
Zeidler's plans for the city were only a partial success. Milwaukee doubled in area through annexation and it experienced very little decline in population during a period of American urban decline starting in the 1960s and lasting until about 1990. Suburban residents and governments fiercely resisted annexation and the politics of regional Milwaukee became highly factional. An attorney who sued to block annexation claimed Zeidler planted listening devices in his office. Zeidler, angry about the resistance to his plans, said in 1958: "The city consults with suburban governments, but we do not believe they have reason for existing."[8]
Zeidler faced the vexing issue of race relations as Milwaukee's African-American population tripled during the 1950s. Zeidler was a vocal supporter of the civil rights movement and his opponents tried to exploit this to their advantage. Zeidler's political enemies spread false rumors that Zeidler had put billboards in the South asking blacks to come north. Many workers in Milwaukee were threatened for supporting Zeidler. One manufacturer even threatened to fire employees who voted for Zeidler. Zeidler cited bad personal health and the race issue as reasons for not running for re-election in 1960.[8]
A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Zeidler as the twenty-first-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.[10]
Later years and death
[edit]After leaving office, Frank Zeidler worked as a mediator, as development director for Alverno College, and served in the administration of Wisconsin Governor John W. Reynolds. As a leader of the Public Enterprise Committee, Zeidler was a frequent and severe critic of his successor, Henry Maier.[11] He supported a number of unsuccessful attempts to defeat Maier in subsequent elections.
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 ten state ballots. The party had 400-600 members nationwide at the time. Zeidler agreed to run when other leading members of the SPUSA declined to do so. He and his running mate, J. Quinn Brisben, received 6,038 votes, including approximately 2,500 in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.[12]
On July 26, 2004, Zeidler appeared at the 2004 Green Party National Convention in Milwaukee to welcome delegates to the convention.[13]
He died on July 7, 2006, aged 93, and was interred at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. His mayoral and personal papers are archived at Milwaukee Public Library. Several additional boxes of his papers are archived at the Golda Meir Library of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.[14]
Writing, scholarship, and legacy
[edit]Zeidler wrote several books, including not only treatises on municipal government, labor law, socialism, and Milwaukee history, but poetry, renditions of four of Shakespeare's plays into present-day English, and children's stories. His 1961 memoir of his time as mayor, A Liberal in City Government, was published in 2005 by Milwaukee Publishers LLC, a local company formed for the purpose.[15]
On June 13, 1958, Zeidler was the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee,[16] which now sponsors the Frank P. Zeidler International Graduate Student Travel Award, a scholarship enabling a non-American scholar to study for a master's degree in American history at UWM.[17] The Wisconsin Labor History Society also sponsors an annual undergraduate Frank P. Zeidler Scholarship in labor history.[18]
The Milwaukee Public Library's historic collections are housed in the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, named in his honor.[citation needed]
On May 21, 2006, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee.[citation needed]
An urban park in downtown Milwaukee bears Zeidler's name. Zeidler Union Park (originally named for priest and explorer Jacques Marquette)[19] now hosts the Westown Farmer's Market and other smaller festivals and gatherings. [20]
Family
[edit]Zeidler's daughter, Jeanne Zeidler, served as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, from 1998 until 2010, when she retired.[21][22]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ferré-Sadurní, Luis (2021-06-23). "How India Walton Pulled It Off in the Buffalo Mayoral Primarywork=The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ "Frank Zeidler Dies — The Last American Socialist | Wisconsin Historical Society". 3 August 2012.
- ^ "Frank Zeidler – The Last American Socialist". Wisconsin History. July 9, 2006. Archived from the original on January 11, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b Borsuk, Alan J. (July 8, 2006). "Mayor served 'the public welfare'". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 11, 2006. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
- ^ "On this day: September 20". Wisconsin History. Archived from the original on July 12, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
- ^ Tatlock, Julie. "Red Falcons: Children and the Socialist Party in Milwaukee". Marquette University. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
- ^ "New Farmer-Labor-Progressive Bloc Facing First Test as Milwaukee's Registrations Set Primary Record". Evening Independent (St. Petersburg), Associated Press, March 17, 1936, p. 12-A.
- ^ a b c Frank Zeidler's Milwaukee, by John McCarthy, Next American City, Winter 2007
- ^ Casey, James J., Jr., Mayor Frank P. Zeidler: Transportation Development in Post-War Milwaukee. American Public Works Association, 2006 Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Holli, Melvin G. (1999). The American Mayor. University Park: PSU Press. ISBN 0-271-01876-3.
- ^ Johannes, John R. (May 22, 1994). "Interview with Mr. Richard Budelman, Former aide to Mayor Henry Maier" (PDF). Marquette University.
- ^ Horan, Chris (November 2, 2016). "Our Back Pages: When a presidential candidate spent election night in Milwaukee". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
- ^ Video of Zeidler's welcome on YouTube
- ^ The Papers of Frank Zeidler at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Golda Meir Library. Accessed June 30, 2023.
- ^ Stephenson, Crocker. "Years-old memoir of city's Zeidler years now published". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, pg. 2B, May 30, 2005.
- ^ "A Few of UWM's Noted Alumni", uwm.edu. Accessed June 30, 2023.
- ^ The UW-Milwaukee Frank P. Zeidler International Graduate Student Travel Award Archived 2015-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, uwm.edu. Accessed June 30, 30, 2023.
- ^ ""Zeidler Scholarships" Wisconsin Labor History Society". Archived from the original on 2013-07-15. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
- ^ "Milwaukee Zeidler Union Square".
- ^ "Zeidler Union Square | Travel Wisconsin".
- ^ ""Past Mayors and Governors"". Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
- ^ ""Zeidler looks back on career as Williamsburg's first female mayor"". Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2015-07-27.
Further reading
[edit]- Hayes, Paul G. "Remembering Zeidler". Wisconsin People & Ideas, vol. 52, no. 4 (Fall 2006), pp. 30–32.
External links
[edit]- Oral History Interview with Frank Zeidler, July 17, 1981
- "The Last Socialist Mayor". Interviewer, Amy Goodman. Democracy Now!. June 21, 2004.
- "Before Bernie Sanders, There Was Zeidler, a Religious Socialist", The New York Times
- Funeral service video clips includes tributes by Mayor Tom Barrett and historian John Gurda
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