John W. Smith

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John William Smith ( April 12, 1882 - June 17, 1942 ) was an American politician , a member of the Detroit City Council, and two-time mayor of Detroit , Michigan .

Early life

John W. Smith was born in Detroit in 1882 to John William (born as Johann Wilheim Schmid) and Gertrude Smith (born as Gertrude Wax). His father died when Smith was five years old, leaving the family of the single mother in poverty. He dropped out of school after the fifth grade. He kept himself afloat with his student jobs as a bowling boy and newspaper deliverer and continued his education as an autodidact . In his youth he practiced boxing and joined the armed forces of the United States at the age of 15 to fight in the Spanish-American War , where he was used in the Philippines , among other places . Due to the financial situation, he lived with relatives in Nendingen for a short time. In 1901 he returned to Detroit, where Smith attended the University of Detroit for a year and also trained as a plumber. He then worked as a plumber at a shipyard in Detroit.

Smith married Marie General, with whom he had two children, Dorothy and John W. Jr.

politics

Smith became active in the Republican Party in 1908 and was appointed Deputy State Labor Commissioner by Governor Chase Osborn in 1911 . Two years later, he became an associate in the Wayne County Sheriff's Department. In 1920 he was elected to the Michigan Senate and in 1922 was appointed Postmaster of Detroit by US President Warren G. Harding .

In 1924, Smith won the Detroit mayoral election after Frank Ellsworth Doremus resigned. He held the office until 1928. Smith served in Detroit City Council from 1932 until his death in 1942. In 1933, at the end of Frank Murphy's term, he was mayor of Detroit again. His successor in this office was Frank Couzens . In 1934, Smith ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan.

John W. Smith died on June 17, 1942.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Philip Parker Mason: The Ambassador Bridge: A Monument to Progress . Wayne State University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-8143-1840-1 , pp. 75-76.
  2. ↑ a b c Men who have made Michigan, Edwin Gustav Pipp, Pipp's magazine, 1927, https://books.google.com/books?ei=j-DWTNm_EoP78AbKiKi1CQ
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Ex-Mayor of Detroit . In: The Windsor Daily Star , June 18, 1942. 
  4. ↑ Michigan Library Bulletin, Vol. 17, Michigan State Library, Lansing, Michigan, Public Libraries, July – August 1926, p. 45, https://books.google.com/books?id=BnwiAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA6-PA45#v = onepage & q & f = false
  5. ^ A b Who's Who in Detroit, 1935–36 . Walter Romig & Co, 1935, p. 296.
  6. ^ A b Mayors of the City of Detroit . Detroit Public Library. 2006. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved on September 7, 2010.
  7. ^ Detroit City Council, 1919 to present . Detroit Public Library. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  8. ↑ KELLY, WHEALAN PLEDGE HELP TO RECOVERY DRIVE . In: Chicago Tribune , September 9, 1933. 
  9. ↑ LAB: In Detroit . In: Time , October 18, 1937. 
  10. ^ National Affairs: Detroit's Irishman . In: Time , September 22, 1930. 
  11. ↑ JOHN W. SMITH; Detroit's ex-Mayor, 59, Had Served So as ... . In: New York Times , June 18, 1942. 
personal data
SURNAME Smith, John W.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, John William (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH June 17, 1942
Place of death Detroit , Michigan