Wilson Goode | |
---|---|
95th Mayor of Philadelphia | |
In office January 2, 1984 –January 6, 1992 | |
Preceded by | Bill Green |
Succeeded by | Ed Rendell |
Personal details | |
Born | Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. August 19,1938 Seaboard,North Carolina,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Velma Goode (m. 1960) |
Children | W. Wilson Goode Jr. |
Education | Morgan State University (BA) University of Pennsylvania (MPA) Eastern University (DMin) |
Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is a former Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial MOVE police action and house bombing in 1985. Goode was also a community activist, chair of the state Public Utility Commission, and managing director for the City of Philadelphia.
Goode was born into a family of tenant farmers near Seaboard, North Carolina. [1] His family arrived in Philadelphia in 1953 and lived in the Paschall neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia. He was an honors student at John Bartram High School and then he graduated from Morgan State University in 1961. He was a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps while attending Morgan State and entered the US Army as a First Lieutenant in the military police. He returned to Philadelphia and briefly worked as a manager at a building maintenance firm and as an insurance adjuster before he was hired by the Philadelphia Council for Community Development in 1967. He became executive director of PCCD in 1971. In 1967 he and his wife bought a house in the Paschall neighborhood, where he served as a deacon of Paschall's First Baptist Church. In 1968, he completed his graduate studies at the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania where he earned his master's in Public Administration. [2]
After African-American state senators complained that there had never been an African-American member of the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), Governor Milton Shapp began actively searching for one. His aide, Terry Dellmuth, knew Goode from his community and political activities and recommended him.
As a PUC commissioner, Goode met with community groups around the state, studied relevant issues, compiled what was seen as a pro-consumer record, and forged good working relations with his fellow commissioners. He was soon elevated to the chairmanship of the PUC, where he continued his pro-consumer policies but worked to limit PUC expenditures.
Philadelphia Mayor Bill Green, who had been elected in November 1979, had promised to appoint a black managing director after winning a racially divisive Democratic primary against former deputy mayor Charles Bowser. Green kept his promise by appointing Goode as managing director at the urging of key members of the black community. [ citation needed ]
Before the primary election of 1983, Green decided not to seek reelection. Goode jumped into the race and defeated former Mayor Frank Rizzo in a racially polarized primary election. Goode went on to win the general election over former Green fund-raiser and Philadelphia Stock Exchange Chairman John Egan, the Republican Party nominee. [ citation needed ]
Goode's tenure as mayor was marred in 1985 by the MOVE Bombing, in which police attempted to clear a building in West Philadelphia inhabited by MOVE, a radical back-to-nature group, whose members, under the leadership of founder John Africa, had long defied city officials by yelling slogans and statements from a megaphone, ignoring city sanitation codes, assaulting neighbors, and resisting law enforcement officers. [3] During the attempt to evacuate the compound, police used tear gas, leading to members of MOVE opening fire on them. During the final assault on the building, the police dropped an improvised bomb made of C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex, an explosive gel used in underwater mining, onto to a bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the building. This caused the house to catch fire, and ignited a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost 4 city blocks, killed 11 people, and left 240 people homeless. [4]
In 1987 Goode ran for reelection, winning the Democratic primary before facing off in the general election against former mayor Frank Rizzo, who had converted to the Republican Party after losing the 1983 Democratic primary to Goode. Goode defeated Rizzo 51%-49% to earn a second term. [5]
Goode stayed active after leaving office as mayor by holding a position in the U.S. Department of Education. He earned a Doctor of Ministry at Palmer Theological Seminary, [6] and became a minister and professor at Eastern University, as well as a leader of advocacy for faith-based initiatives. He is CEO of Amachi, a mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents. He was awarded the Purpose Prize, a $100,000 award given to exceptional individuals over age 60 who are working to address critical social problems.
Francis Lazarro Rizzo was an American police officer and politician. He served as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) from 1967 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democratic Party throughout the entirety of his career in public office. He switched to the Republican Party in 1986 and campaigned as a Republican for the final five years of his life.
Robert A. Brady is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1998 to 2019. He was the ranking Democrat and Chairman of the United States House Committee on House Administration from 2007 to 2019. He has served as Chairman of the Philadelphia Democratic Party for more than 35 years and is a registered lobbyist for NBC Universal and Independence Blue Cross.
Joseph Sill Clark Jr. was an American writer, lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 90th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1952 to 1956 and as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1957 to 1969. Clark was the only Unitarian Universalist elected to a major office in Pennsylvania in the modern era.
William Joseph Green III is an American politician from Pennsylvania. A Democrat, Green served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1964 to 1977 and as the 94th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1980 to 1984.
David Cohen was an American lawyer, Democratic civil servant and politician. For the last 26 years of his life, he was a Philadelphia city councilman representing the northwest district. Having served a four-year term not consecutive to the other terms, he represented northwest Philadelphia for a total of 29 years. He died in office aged 90.
Samuel Polen Katz is an American politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the Republican nominee for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1999 and 2003, nearly winning the election in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. His loss to the controversial John F. Street was covered in the documentary The Shame of a City.
Francis Silvestri Rizzo, commonly known as Frank Rizzo Jr., is an American politician. He is the son of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo and served as a Republican and briefly as an Independent member of the Philadelphia City Council for a combined sixteen years.
James Francis Kenney is an American politician who served as the 99th mayor of Philadelphia from 2016 to 2024. Kenney was first elected on November 3, 2015, defeating his Republican rival Melissa Murray Bailey after winning the crowded Democratic primary contest by a landslide on May 19.
Muhammad I. Kenyatta,, was an American professor, civil rights leader, and international human rights advocate. Jackson changed his name in the early 1970s to Muhammad Kenyatta.
David Henry Oh is an American attorney and politician who served as a Republican member of the Philadelphia City Council from 2012 to 2023. He was the first Asian American elected to the city council.
Thomas McIntosh was a Democratic politician from Philadelphia who served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council for three terms, from his initial election in 1959 until his defeat in 1972. Born and raised in North Philadelphia, he attended Temple University and Lincoln University before being drafted to the military during World War II. He became involved in politics, and became a committeeman in the 29th ward. When Raymond Pace Alexander retired from the 5th municipal district, McIntosh was selected to replace him.
The 1987 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the reelection of Wilson Goode over former mayor Frank Rizzo, who had switched to the Republican Party.
The 1983 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the election of Wilson Goode.
The 1975 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the reelection of Frank Rizzo.
The 1971 Philadelphia mayoral election took place on November 2, 1971, to fill the 182nd mayoral term in Philadelphia, with Democratic nominee Frank Rizzo defeating Republican Thacher Longstreth. While Longstreth received many split ticket votes from Democrats, Rizzo found support among unions and the white working-class electorate.
The 1967 Philadelphia mayoral election saw the reelection of James Tate, who narrowly defeated Republican challenger Arlen Specter in the general election. Specter would later be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, where he served until 2011.
The 1985 MOVE bombing, locally known by its date, May 13, 1985, was the destruction of residential homes in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, by the Philadelphia Police Department during a standoff with MOVE, a black liberation organization. Philadelphia police dropped two explosive devices from a helicopter onto the roof of a house occupied by MOVE. The Philadelphia Police Department allowed the resulting fire to burn out of control, destroying 61 previously evacuated neighboring homes over two city blocks and leaving 250 people homeless. Six adults and five children were killed in the attack, with one adult and one child surviving. A lawsuit in federal court found that the city used excessive force and violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
Elections are currently held every four years to elect the mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Curtis J. Jones Jr. is an American politician and a Democratic member of the Philadelphia City Council. In 2007, he was elected to represent the 4th District, which covers parts of North, Northwest, and West Philadelphia. He has served as Majority Leader (2012–2016) and Majority Whip since 2020.
The Buffalo mayoral election of 1977 took place in Buffalo, New York, USA, on November 8, 1977, and resulted in the election of Jimmy Griffin to his first term as mayor.