Governors, mayors and politicians galore!

Click each name to find a list of resources available at HSP.

 

 

Colonel Alexander Kelly McClure

    - Journalist and politician, lawyer

    - Elected to PA House of Representatives and PA Senate

    - Persuaded PA to both nominate and elect Lincoln

    - Founded The Philadelphia Times, which merged into what became today’s Inquirer

 

William Penn

    - Founded the state of Pennsylvania

    - His democratic principles served as an inspiration for the US Constitution

 

Hannah Callowhill Penn

    - Second wife of William Penn, mother of five Penn children

    - Recognized as first female governor of Pennsylvania, as she ran the colony when William Penn was unable

 

Rudolph Blankenburg

    - Born in Germany, elected county commissioner for Philadelphia in 1905, serving 1906-1909

    - Reform mayor of Philadelphia, 1912-1916, known as “Old Dutch Cleanser”

    - Ended assessments by ward leaders of policemen, reorganized the civil service system to have it based on merit, gained passage by the legislature of a bill to enable the city to lease development of subway and transit lines

 

Joseph S. Clark

    - In 1928, founded the Democratic Warriors Club with Richardson Dilworth

    - In August 1941, enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces

    - Served as campaign manager for Richardson Dilworth's mayoral campaign, 1947, and as Philadelphia city controller, 1950-1951

    - Reform mayor of Philadelphia, 1951-1956, and from 1957 to 1968 he was a United States senator from Pennsylvania

 

Natalie Saxe Randall

    - Campaign coordinator and organizer of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia, Director of the Committee for Philadelphia established by Joseph Sill Clark and Richardson Dilworth

    - Executive assistant to Richardson Dilworth during both his stints as mayor of Philadelphia (1956-1962) and president of the Philadelphia Board of Education (1965-1970)

    - Lobbyist in Harrisburg for Lincoln University, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Franklin Institute, among others

 

Richardson Dilworth

    - Elected city treasurer in 1949 when Joseph S. Clark, Jr. won for mayor

    - Mayor of Philadelphia from 1956-1962

    - Denounced municipal corruption, supported civil rights, fought segregation in private schools, rallied for public housing, and restored much of the city’s history as part of an urban renewal program

    - Later became partner in the Philadelphia-based law firm of Dilworth Paxson LLP, and, in 1967, became president of the Philadelphia Board of Education