Vincent Thomas

Vincent Tomasevich-Thomas (born April 16, 1907 in Biloxi , Mississippi , † January 1980 in San Pedro (Los Angeles) , California ) was an American politician. The Vincent Thomas Bridge is named after him.

Life

Thomas was the third of eight children of Croatian immigrants. The family moved to California when Vincent was ten years old. He visited with the help of a sports scholarship to Santa Clara University and then the Loyola Law School where he in 1936 received a diploma in law.

Vincent Thomas first ran for the California State Assembly in 1940 . He won the election in the 68th electoral district with 69.5% of the vote. In the decades that followed, Thomas was re-elected eighteen times in a row. He was a member of the State Assembly for 38 uninterrupted years, making him the longest-serving member of the Californian House of Commons - a record that can no longer be achieved due to the term limit introduced in 1990. In 1978 Thomas had to admit defeat for the only time, he fell under the Republican challenger Gerald N. Felando .

The most significant achievement in Thomas' political career was his commitment to building a bridge from his hometown of San Pedro to Terminal Island . The necessity of this structure was long disputed, critics called the planned bridge a "bridge to nowhere" ("bridge to nowhere"). It took 19 years and 16 laws until construction began in May 1960. In 1961, the California State Legislature passed a resolution according to which the new bridge in honor of Vincent Thomas should already bear the name Vincent Thomas Bridge during his lifetime . When it opened in 1963, Thomas was also the first citizen to pay the 25 cents toll .

Vincent Thomas was a member of the Democratic Party . In 1940 and 1944 he was a member of the Electoral College .

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ clamping Surpasses Expectations: San Pedro Celebrates 25 Years With the 'Bridge to Nowhere' . Los Angeles Times . November 13, 1988. Retrieved April 26, 2014.

predecessor	Office	successor
Fred Reaves	California State Assembly District 68 1940–1974	Walter M. Ingalls
Floyd L. Wakefield	District 52 1974–1978	Gerald N. Felando

personal data
SURNAME	Thomas, Vincent
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Tomasevich-Thomas, Vincent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	April 16, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH	Biloxi, Mississippi
DATE OF DEATH	January 1980
Place of death	San Pedro (Los Angeles) , California

[1] Surpasses Expectations: San Pedro Celebrates 25 Years With the 'Bridge to Nowhere' . Los Angeles Times . November 13, 1988. Retrieved April 26, 2014.