Frank Paul Zeidler (September 20, 1912 – July 7, 2006) was an American
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
politician and
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, serving three terms from April 20, 1948, to April 18, 1960. Zeidler, a member of the
Socialist Party of America, is the last
Socialist Party candidate to be elected mayor of a large American city.
Early life and career
Zeidler was born in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...
on September 20, 1912. He studied at both the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
and
Marquette University
Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...
, but was never able to
graduate due to ill health. He became a socialist because of socialism's emphasis on peace and improving the conditions for workers.
In an interview, Zeidler said he chose the ideology of socialism in 1933 "because of several things in its philosophy. One was the brotherhood of people all over the world. Another was its struggle for peace. Another was the equal distribution of economic goods. Another was the idea of cooperation. A fifth was the idea of democratic planning in order to achieve your goals. Those were pretty good ideas". He distanced himself from the beliefs of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
, especially communism linked in any way to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. Indeed, he was (and remained) an active Lutheran, a religious commitment which he saw as being fulfilled rather than contradicted by his Socialist activism.
Later however, he credited his adoption of socialism to reading
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
literature, with the majority being written by
Eugene V. Debs and
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Early years
Thomas was the ...
during the
Great Depression.
Zeidler became an active member of the
Young People's Socialist League (YPSL), the
youth branch of the
Socialist Party of America, he later became the leader of the Milwaukee branch of the
Red Falcons during the 1930s.
Elections
Zeidler was elected
Milwaukee County Surveyor in 1938 on the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
ballot line (the Socialist Party and Progressives were in coalition in Milwaukee at that time). He was elected to a six-year term on the
Milwaukee Board of School Directors (a non-partisan office) in 1941, just after his brother
Carl Zeidler
Carl Frederick Zeidler (January 4, 1908 – December 11, 1942) was an American politician and the List of mayors of Milwaukee, mayor of the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1940 to 1942, winning election by unseating six-term Social ...
was elected Mayor of Milwaukee in 1940.
In 1942, Frank Zeidler was the Socialist nominee for
Governor of Wisconsin, receiving 1.41% of the vote in a six-way race. He was re-elected to the Milwaukee School Board in 1947.
After two years in office, Carl Zeidler enlisted in the Navy at the height of World War II. Carl was killed at sea when his ship was lost and became a local hero, helping to pave the way for his younger brother to become mayor. In 1948 Frank Zeidler ran for mayor in a crowded field of fourteen candidates and won, undoubtedly aided by the familiarity of his surname.
[Frank Zeidler's Milwaukee, by John McCarthy, ''Next American City'', Winter 2007] The large field of candidates was due to Mayor
John Bohn declining to seek re-election in 1948. Among the candidates that year was attorney
Henry S. Reuss
Henry Schoellkopf Reuss (February 22, 1912 – January 12, 2002) was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Wisconsin.
Early life
Henry Schoellkopf Reuss was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the son of Gustav A. Reuss (pronounced ''Royce' ...
, a Democrat who later went on to win election to Congress in 1954. Zeidler was re-elected in 1952 and 1956, but declined to seek another term in 1960, citing health reasons.
Zeidler was Milwaukee's third Socialist mayor (after
Emil Seidel 910-12and
Daniel Hoan
Daniel Webster Hoan (March 12, 1881 – June 11, 1961) was an American politician who served as the 32nd Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1916 to 1940. A lawyer who had served as Milwaukee City Attorney from 1910 to 1916, Hoan was a promin ...
916-40, making Milwaukee the largest American city to elect three Socialists to its highest office.
Mayoralty
During Frank Zeidler's administration, Milwaukee grew industrially and never had to borrow money to repay loans. During this period, Milwaukee nearly doubled its size with an aggressive campaign of municipal annexations: large parts of the
Town of Lake and most of the
Town of Granville were annexed to the city. The park system was upgraded. Zeidler spearheaded planning and construction of the beginning of Milwaukee's freeway system, and turned it over to
Milwaukee County in 1954. A transportation advocate claims that Zeidler always maintained that the projected Milwaukee freeway system should have been built and that the city's competitiveness had been compromised by the failure to complete the planned system.
Zeidler's plans for the city were only a partial success. Milwaukee doubled in area through annexation and it experienced very little decline in population during a period of American urban decline starting in the 1960s and lasting until about 1990. Suburban residents and governments fiercely resisted annexation and the politics of regional Milwaukee became highly factional. An attorney who sued to block annexation claimed Zeidler planted listening devices in his office. Zeidler, angry about the resistance to his plans, said in 1958: "The city consults with suburban governments, but we do not believe they have reason for existing."
Zeidler faced the vexing issue of race relations as Milwaukee's
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
population tripled during the 1950s. Zeidler was a vocal supporter of the civil rights movement and his opponents tried to exploit this to their advantage. Zeidler's political enemies spread false rumors that Zeidler had put billboards in the South asking blacks to come north. Many workers in Milwaukee were threatened for supporting Zeidler. One manufacturer even threatened to fire employees who voted for Zeidler. Zeidler cited bad personal health and the race issue as reasons for not running for re-election in 1960.
After leaving office
After leaving office, Frank Zeidler worked as a
mediator, as
development director for
Alverno College, and served in the administration of
Wisconsin Governor John W. Reynolds. As a leader of the Public Enterprise Committee, Zeidler was a frequent and severe critic of his successor,
Henry Maier
Henry Walter Maier (February 7, 1918 – July 17, 1994) was an American politician and the longest-serving mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, holding office from 1960 to 1988. A Democrat, Maier was a powerful and controversial figure, presiding over ...
. He supported a number of unsuccessful attempts to defeat Maier in subsequent elections.
Zeidler was instrumental in re-forming the
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA, officially the Socialist Party of the United States of America,"The article of this organization shall be the Socialist Party of the United States of America, hereinafter called 'the Party'". Art. I of th"Constitution o ...
in 1973, and served as its National Chair for many years. He was the party's presidential nominee in 1976, getting on ten state ballots. The party had 400-600 members nationwide at the time. Zeidler agreed to run when other leading members of the SPUSA declined to do so. He and his running mate,
J. Quinn Brisben
John Quinn Brisben (September 6, 1934 – April 17, 2012) was an American teacher, author, and political activist from Chicago, Illinois. Brisben was on the Socialist Party USA's presidential ticket twice. He was the party's vice-presidential n ...
, received 6,038 votes, including approximately 2,500 in
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous cou ...
.
On July 26, 2004 Zeidler appeared at the
2004 Green Party National Convention
The 2004 Green National Convention was held at the Hyatt Regency and the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 23–28, 2004 to nominate the Green Party of the United States, Green Party's candidates for President of the United St ...
in Milwaukee to welcome delegates to the convention.
He died July 7, 2006, and is buried at
Forest Home Cemetery
Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in the Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed beer barons, politicians and social elite. Both the cemetery and ...
in Milwaukee. His mayoral and personal papers are archived at
Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) is the public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, consisting of a central library and 13 branches, all part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. MPL is the largest public library syst ...
alongside those of his brother
Carl Zeidler
Carl Frederick Zeidler (January 4, 1908 – December 11, 1942) was an American politician and the List of mayors of Milwaukee, mayor of the city of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from 1940 to 1942, winning election by unseating six-term Social ...
. Several additional boxes of his papers are archived at the
Golda Meir Library of the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...
.
Writing and scholarship
Zeidler wrote several books, including not only treatises on
municipal government,
labor law
Labour laws (also known as labor laws or employment laws) are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, ...
, socialism, and
Milwaukee history, but
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
, renditions of four of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's plays into present-day English, and
children's stories. His 1961 memoir of his time as mayor, ''A Liberal in City Government'', was published in 2005 by Milwaukee Publishers LLC, a local company formed for the purpose.
On June 13, 1958 Zeidler was the first person to receive an honorary doctorate from the
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscon ...
., which now sponsors the Frank P. Zeidler International
Graduate Student Travel Award, a
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholars ...
enabling a non-American scholar to study for a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...
at UWM. The
Wisconsin Labor History Society also sponsors an annual undergraduate Frank P. Zeidler Scholarship in
labor history
Labor history or labour history is a sub-discipline of social history which specialises on the history of the working classes and the labor movement. Labor historians may concern themselves with issues of gender, race, ethnicity, and other fac ...
. The
Milwaukee Public Library
Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) is the public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, consisting of a central library and 13 branches, all part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. MPL is the largest public library syst ...
's historic collections are housed in the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, named in his honor. On May 21, 2006 he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from
Cardinal Stritch University
, mottoeng = To value the better things
, established = 1937 ( years ago)
, type = Private university
, religious_affiliation = Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (Roman Catholic)
, endowment ...
in Milwaukee.
Jeanne Zeidler
Zeidler's daughter, Jeanne Zeidler, served as mayor of
Williamsburg,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, from 1998 until 2010, when she retired.
"Zeidler looks back on career as Williamsburg's first female mayor"
/ref>
See also
* List of elected socialist mayors in the United States
References
Further reading
* Hayes, Paul G.
Remembering Zeidler
. ''Wisconsin People & Ideas'', vol. 52, no. 4 (Fall 2006), pp. 30–32.
External links
Oral History Interview with Frank Zeidler, July 17, 1981
"The Last Socialist Mayor"
Interviewer, Amy Goodman. ''Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
''. June 21, 2004.
"Before Bernie Sanders, There Was Zeidler, a Religious Socialist"
''The New York Times''
includes tributes by Mayor Tom Barrett and historian John Gurda
John Gurda (born 9 June 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American writer and historian.
Gurda's book, ''The Making of Milwaukee'', was turned into an Emmy Award-winning documentary series by Milwaukee PBS. He is an eight-time winner of the Wis ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeidler, Frank P.
1912 births
2006 deaths
American Christian pacifists
American Christian socialists
American Lutherans
American people of German descent
American political party founders
University of Chicago alumni
Marquette University alumni
Mayors of Milwaukee
Politicians from Milwaukee
Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin
Socialist Party USA presidential nominees
Candidates in the 1976 United States presidential election
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni
Writers from Wisconsin
School board members in Wisconsin
Socialist Party USA politicians from Wisconsin
Lutheran socialists
20th-century American politicians
20th-century Lutherans