Joseph Medill

Joseph Medill (born April 6, 1823 in Saint John , New Brunswick , Canada , † March 16, 1899 in San Antonio , Texas ) was an American politician . He was mayor of Chicago from 1871 to 1873 .

Career

After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1846, Joseph Medill began working in this profession in Cleveland . There he also worked as a newspaper publisher. From 1854 he lived in Chicago, where he worked in the newspaper industry. He was until 1864 editor of the Chicago Tribune newspaper . He then devoted himself to politics for a few years. He was one of the founders of the Republican Party and was an opponent of slavery . In 1860, he vigorously campaigned for Abraham Lincoln to be nominated for president. In other areas he was very conservative. He was a staunch opponent of unions and strikes. In 1869 and 1870, Medill took part as a delegate to a constitutional convention for the state of Illinois. Then he was briefly a member of the federal Civil Service Commission .

In 1871, Medill was elected mayor of Chicago as a candidate for the short-lived and local Fireproof Party . He held this office between 1871 and 1873. At that time, the city was still suffering severely from the consequences of the fire that devastated the city in October 1871 shortly before Medill took office. Medill reorganized the city's police and fire services. In addition, fire protection measures were prescribed in houses. The first public library was founded at that time. In 1872 he supported the re-election of President Ulysses S. Grant . He fell out with his long-time companion in the newspaper industry, Horace Greeley , who distanced himself from Grant and ran for the presidency as a Liberal Republican . Medill was also a Prohibitionist and banned alcohol on Sundays. This met with massive opposition from large parts of the Chicago population. In August 1873 he resigned prematurely for health reasons. For the last three and a half months of his tenure, he entrusted city councilor Lester L. Bond , who provisionally ruled the city during this time.

After his resignation, Joseph Medill took a vacation in Europe. After his return to Chicago in 1874 he took over the Chicago Tribune again . This was considered the mouthpiece of the Republican Party. He died on March 16, 1899 in San Antonio and was buried in Chicago.

Web links

Wikisource: Joseph Medill - Sources and full texts (English)

personal data
SURNAME	Medill, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	April 6, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saint John , New Brunswick , Canada
DATE OF DEATH	March 16, 1899
Place of death	San Antonio , Texas