Frank P. Zeidler
Encyclopedia : F : FR : FRA : Frank P. Zeidler
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 last 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. Federal funding was obtained to complete the highway system that had started under Daniel Hoan. The park system was upgraded.
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. [link]
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.
See also
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
|- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;"
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.