{news} Re: Frank Zeidler, last Socialist mayor, dies

[David Bedell]

Zeidler was part of the same movement that elected Jasper McLevy,
Bridgeport's Socialist mayor during the 1940s and 50s.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13770756

Frank Zeidler, last Socialist mayor, dies By COLIN
FLY, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jul 8, 7:04 PM ET

MILWAUKEE - Frank Zeidler, a former Milwaukee mayor
who was the last Socialist to run a major American
city, has died. He was 93.

Zeidler died late Friday of congestive heart failure
and diverticulitis, hospital spokesman Gregg Hartzog
said. He led Milwaukee from 1948 through 1960.

Born in Milwaukee on Sept. 20, 1912, Zeidler was part
of the Socialist Party's city stronghold, which was
fueled by German immigrants who flocked there. The
party had thousands of members, a congressional seat
and control of the mayor's office for nearly a
half-century, ending with Zeidler.

"Historians described him in the tradition of
Milwaukee's sewer socialists," said Zeidler's youngest
daughter, Jeanne, who followed her father into
politics and is mayor of Williamsburg, Va.

"They were community leaders, mayors of Milwaukee who
thought everyone should have access to plumbing in
their homes," she said. "But he also had a bigger
vision than that. He really was an activist of world
peace, of tolerance, of people working together."

His three terms as mayor were marked by large-scale
construction of public housing, creation of the first
educational television station in Wisconsin and city
beautification programs. He also made strong
statements on behalf of civil rights as Milwaukee
became the 11th-largest city in the United States by
the end of his term, Jeanne Zeidler said.

Zeidler said the word "socialism" was discredited when
Stalin and Hitler used it in their rhetoric. Still, he
remained an ardent Socialist until his death, serving
as chairman of the national Socialist party, even as
numbers dwindled.

He never moved from the house he owned before being
elected mayor, an office he retired from.

Zeidler wrote a 1,022-page manuscript in 1962 called
"A Liberal in City Government" that was a memoir and a
reflection on municipal government. It was finally
published last year.

"I thought I would discharge the contents of my mind,"
he said of his work.

Zeidler ran for president unsuccessfully in 1976,
receiving about 6,000 votes.