1929 Indianapolis mayoral election

Last updated

Indianapolis mayoral election, 1929
Flag of Indianapolis.svg
  1925 November 5, 1929 1933  
  Reginald H. Sullivan (1).png 3x4.svg
Nominee Reginald H. Sullivan Alfred M. Glossbrenner
Party Democratic Republican

Mayor before election

Lemuel Ertus Slack
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Reginald H. Sullivan
Democratic

The 2029 Indianapolis mayoral election took place on November 5, 1929, and saw Democrat Reginald H. Sullivan winning in a landslide victory. [1] Incumbent mayor, Democrat Lemuel Ertus Slack, had been appointed mayor in 1927 following the resignation of Republican John L. Duvall after he was charged with corruption by the state.

Duvall had been elected mayor in 1925 with the support of the Ku Klux Klan, and the Marion County Republican Party had close Klan ties. [1] The City Council and school board both were composed of Klan-supported members. [1] Opposition arose by 1929 to both the Klan and to the corruption in the city government. [1] Sullivan's victory was seen as a rebuke of the Ku Klux Klan. [1]

The Republican nominee was businessman Alfed M. Glossbrenner. [2]

Sullivan spent much of the campaign in a hospital bed after being injured in an airplane crash. [3] Sullivan received strong support from African American and Catholic voters. [3]

Coinciding mayoral elections across the state also saw Klan-supported, generally Republican, mayors voted out and replaced by new, generally Democratic, mayors. [1] Anderson, Elkhart, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Muncie, and Terre Haute all replaced Klan-supported Republicans with Democratic mayors in what the New York Times hoped would be, "The dawn of a more liberal and cleaner political day in Indiana". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku Klux Klan</span> American white supremacist terrorist hate group

The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. According to historian Fergus Bordewich, the Klan was "the first organized terror movement in American history." Their primary targets at various times have been African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 United States presidential election</span> 35th quadrennial U.S. presidential election

The 1924 United States presidential election was the 35th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1924. In a three-way contest, incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge won election to a full term. Coolidge was the second vice president to ascend to the presidency and then win a full term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. C. Stephenson</span> American murderer and Ku Klux Klan leader (1891–1966)

David Curtis "Steve" Stephenson was an American Ku Klux Klan leader, convicted rapist and murderer. In 1923 he was appointed Grand Dragon of the Indiana Klan and head of Klan recruiting for seven other states. Later that year, he led those groups to independence from the national KKK organization. Amassing wealth and political power in Indiana politics, he was one of the most prominent national Klan leaders. He had close relationships with numerous Indiana politicians, especially Governor Edward L. Jackson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack C. Walton</span> American politician

John Calloway Walton was an American politician and the 5th Governor of Oklahoma, serving the shortest tenure. He was impeached and removed from office shortly into his first term. A populist member of the Democratic Party, Walton previously served as the 18th Mayor of Oklahoma City between 1919 and 1923.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 Democratic National Convention</span> U.S. political event held in Madison Square Garden in New York City

The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominate a presidential candidate. It was the first major party national convention that saw the name of a woman, Lena Springs, placed in nomination for vice president. John W. Davis, a dark horse, eventually won the presidential nomination on the 103rd ballot, a compromise candidate following a protracted convention fight between distant front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward L. Jackson</span> American politician (1873–1954)

Edward L. Jackson was an American attorney, judge and politician, elected the 32nd governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from January 12, 1925, to January 14, 1929. He had also been elected as Secretary of State of Indiana.

This is a partial list of notable historical figures in U.S. national politics who were members of the Ku Klux Klan before taking office. Membership of the Klan is secret. Political opponents sometimes allege that a person was a member of the Klan, or was supported at the polls by Klan members.

Daisy Douglas Barr was Imperial Empress (leader) of the Indiana Women's Ku Klux Klan (WKKK) in the early 1920s and an active member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). People were associated with both the KKK and the WCTU because the Ku Klux Klan was a very strong supporter and defender of temperance and National Prohibition. Professionally, she was a Quaker minister in two prominent churches, First Friends Church of New Castle, Indiana, and Friends Memorial Church in Muncie, Indiana. She served as the vice-chair of the Republican Committee in Indiana as well as president of the Indiana War Mother's organization. She was killed in a car wreck and her funeral was held in a Friends meeting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel M. Ralston</span> American politician

Samuel Moffett Ralston was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 28th governor of the U.S. state of Indiana and a United States senator from Indiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Republican Party</span> Indiana affiliate of the Republican Party

The Indiana Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the state of Indiana. The chairman of the Indiana Republican State Committee is Anne Hathaway.

George Richard Durgan was an American politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1933 to 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry E. Rowbottom</span> American politician

Harry Emerson Rowbottom was an American businessman and Republican politician. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Indiana in 1924 and served three terms from 1925 to 1931. He was defeated for re-election in 1930 and subsequently convicted of accepting bribes, abruptly terminating his political career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana Klan</span> Indiana branch of the Ku Klux Klan

The Indiana Klan was a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society in the United States that organized in 1915 to promote ideas of racial superiority and affect public affairs on issues of Prohibition, education, political corruption, and morality. It was strongly white supremacist against African Americans, Chinese Americans, and also Catholics and Jews, whose faiths were commonly associated with Irish, Italian, Balkan, and Slavic immigrants and their descendants. In Indiana, the Klan did not tend to practice overt violence but used intimidation in certain cases, whereas nationally the organization practiced illegal acts against minority ethnic and religious groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Robinson Pattangall</span> American judge (1865–1942)

William Robinson Pattangall was an American politician from Maine. He was particularly known for his support of public schools and opposition to the Ku Klux Klan. He was later the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court retiring on July 16, 1935.

Although the Ku Klux Klan is most often associated with white supremacy, the revived Klan of the 1920s was also anti-Catholic. In the U.S. state of Maine, with a small African-American population but a burgeoning number of Acadian, French-Canadian and Irish immigrants, the Klan revival of the 1920s was a Protestant nativist movement directed against the Catholic minority as well as African-Americans. For a period in the mid-1920s, the Klan captured elements of the Maine Republican Party, even helping to elect a governor, Ralph Owen Brewster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1922 Oregon gubernatorial election</span> Election

The 1922 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1922, to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Oregon. The election matched incumbent Republican Ben W. Olcott against Democrat Walter M. Pierce. With the support of the Ku Klux Klan, then a powerful political force in the state, Pierce won the election by a wide margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1926 Oregon gubernatorial election</span> Election

The 1926 Oregon gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 1926 to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Oregon. The election matched incumbent Democrat Walter M. Pierce against Republican Isaac L. Patterson and Independent candidate H. H. Stallard, who ran on an anti-Prohibition platform. Patterson won by a wide margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1925 Indianapolis mayoral election</span>

The 1925 Indianapolis mayoral election was held on November 3, 1925 and saw the election of Republican former Marion County treasurer John L. Duvall, who defeated Democratic former Indianapolis city attorney Walter Meyers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1928 United States presidential election in Indiana</span> Election in Indiana

The 1928 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 6, 1928, as part of the 1928 United States presidential election which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 15 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 Indiana gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Indiana

The 1924 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1924 under the provisions of the Constitution of Indiana. It was the 31st gubernatorial election in the State of Indiana. Republican Edward L. Jackson defeated Democrat Carleton B. McCulloch. The election took place concurrently with the 1924 United States elections that saw Republicans hold the White House and increase their majorities in both houses of Congress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Madison, James H. (1982). Indiana Through Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State and Its People, 1920-1945. Indiana Historical Society. pp. 73 and 74.
  2. "Image 24 of [Broadsides, tickets, leaflets, sample official ballots, etc. 1929]". Library of Congress. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Hamlett, Ryan (September 10, 2013). "Lake Reginald Sullivan". Historic Indianapolis | All Things Indianapolis History. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
Preceded by
1925
Indianapolis mayoral election
1929
Succeeded by
1933