Stephen W. Cunningham
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Stephen W. Cunningham (July 29, 1886 – July 28, 1956) was the first graduate manager at the Southern Branch of the University of California, later
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
, and a member of the
Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tem ...
from 1933 to 1941.


Personal life

Cunningham was born July 29, 1886 in
San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 ce ...
, the son of Reuben F. Cunningham of
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
and Annie B. Magee of
Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. He was educated in the San Bernardino and Riverside public schools and earned a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, in 1910. He was president of the
student body A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
there. Cunningham was married to Frances Lippincott Flint of Los Angeles in 1919. They had three children, John Stephen, Donald Edward and Frances Ann (Mrs. Ann Bauman).Los Angeles Public Library reference file
/ref>


Early career

After graduating from Berkeley in 1910, he worked in
advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
for three years, then as a
broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
for five, all in San Francisco. He had attempted to enlist in the Army in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
but was rejected as underweight. Later he got in under a special classification and served as a sergeant in the Air Service."Stephen Cunningham, Ex-Councilman, Dies," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 28, 1956, page B-1
/ref> From 1921 to 1924 he was secretary for the Southern California Canning Association.


Graduate manager

In 1925, Cunningham was named graduate manager for the
Associated Students A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, ...
at the Southern Branch of the University of California, a position that had generally the same duties and powers as that of an association
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
. As such, he accomplished tasks like arranging for the Grizzlies, as the athletics teams were known, to play against the
Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
Aggies in the basketball
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
at the
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...
and with Occidental College in the
Olympic Auditorium The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium ...
. In 1928 he was secretary of the Coaches' and Managers' Association of the Pacific Coast Conference. He was credited with bringing William H. Spaulding to the campus as football coach and starting improvements that landed the university in the Pacific Coast Conference. He oversaw the transition of the Associated Students organization when the university moved from the old Vermont Avenue campus to the new campus in Westwood in 1929. In 1931 a move began at UCLA to bring in a manager who had actually graduated from the Los Angeles campus, with tennis coach William C. Ackerman as the favorite. Cunningham was offered a one-year extension on his contract, but a student protest resulted in the term being extended to two years, with Ackerman to take over at the end of that time. In one of his final acts as graduate manager, Cunningham told a City Council session in December 1932 that UCLA would not approve a council decision to give the University of Southern California Trojans eight preferred dates at the
Los Angeles Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a me ...
for the succeeding ten years while the
UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...
were to receive only five. The matter was eventually settled by agreement.


Career in City Council


Elections

In 1933, Los Angeles City Council District 3 was bounded on the south by
Pico Boulevard Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribeir ...
, east by Highland Avenue, north by
Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...
, extending west to the ocean and Santa Monica Canyon." It included the Westside and the UCLA campus. That was the year that Cunningham ran against the incumbent 3rd District councilman
James Stuart McKnight James Stuart McKnight (November 15, 1884 – December 25, 1950) was a National Guard officer who served in World War I, an attorney and a member of the City Council in Los Angeles, California, in 1931 and 1932. He also served in the California St ...
and was elected almost 3–1, with 15,698 votes against McKnight's 5,582. In December 1934, McKnight was found guilty of four counts of mailing " defamatory and libelous matter" about Cunningham through the mail and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge aul JohnMcCormick to six months in jail, suspended for two years. Cunningham was reelected in 1935 over the
End Poverty in California End Poverty in California (EPIC) was a political campaign started in 1934 by socialist writer Upton Sinclair (best known as author of ''The Jungle''). The movement formed the basis for Sinclair's campaign for Governor of California in 1934. The p ...
candidate, James M. Carter; in 1937 and 1939 he had no opponents. In 1941 Republican Cunningham ran for mayor against Democrat Fletcher Bowron, and was defeated, 149,195 votes against Bowron's 181,582.


Controversies

In 1934, Cunningham introduced a council resolution that would outlaw the use of
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
pipes in sanitary (street) sewers in favor of vitrified clay pipe, noting that the concrete piping disintegrated rapidly from the effects of
sewer gas Sewer gas is a complex, generally obnoxious smelling mixture of toxic and nontoxic gases produced and collected in sewage systems by the decomposition of organic household or industrial wastes, typical components of sewage. Sewer gases may inc ...
. Cunningham had one time made repeated efforts to rid
Westwood Village Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...
, just south of the UCLA campus, of
bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...
who were doing business with university students. He told the City Council in 1936:
I reported the matter to the Police Commission. The police went out there, but could find only a
punchboard A punchboard is a game board, primarily consisting of a number of holes, which was used once for lottery games. History Origin Punchboards were originally used in the 18th century for gambling purposes. A local tavern owner would construct a ...
operating, for which an arrest was made. The place is still operating as a bookmaking establishment. Word was brought to me by a friend who got it from someone connected with the bookmaking business, and I was told that I would not live much longer if I kept on monkeying with bookmaking."Councilman Gets Threat," ''Los Angeles Times'', March 6, 1936, page A-1
/ref>
In 1937, Introducing a resolution to rewrite Los Angeles's anti-picketing ordinance, Cunningham said that
When men like Harry Bridges and
Dave Beck David Daniel Beck (June 16, 1894December 26, 1993) was an American labor leader, and president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1952 to 1957. He helped found the "Conference" system of organization in the Teamsters union, and s ...
come into Los Angeles and attempt by show of force to intimidate workers and force them to join some organization or not work, then we must . . . do what we can to see that men can go about their normal pursuits in a peaceful way without interference."Curb Sought on Picketing," ''Los Angeles Times,'' February 25, 1937, page 6
/ref>
Council Member
Parley Parker Christensen Parley Parker Christensen (July 19, 1869 – February 10, 1954) was an American attorney and politician who was a Utah state representative, a Los Angeles City Council member, and the Farmer–Labor Party's presidential nominee during the 1920 ...
lauded Bridges and Beck and a recent seamen's strike as a "magnificent demonstration" and questioned Cunningham's patriotism, to which the latter replied that he would challenge his patriotism against that of Christensen "to any proof." In 1940, when he was considered an authority on street and highway development, Cunningham was instrumental in lobbying Governor
Culbert Olson Culbert Levy Olson (November 7, 1876 – April 13, 1962) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party member, Olson was involved in Utah and California politics and was elected as the 29th governor of California from 1939 to 1943 ...
for approval of a Hollywood Express Highway from downtown. Cunningham succeeded in killing a Federally subsidized
public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
program in Sawtelle in 1940, by a 9–6 vote in the City Council. A recording device was found in 1941 at the Biltmore Apartments at 330 South Grand Avenue, with wiring leading to Cunningham's mayoralty campaign headquarters at 1031 South Broadway. A "complete log" of Cunningham's telephone calls was left on a table. Police investigation followed.


Later life

After he left the City Council, Cunningham continued to be "very well known at City Hall" as the head of Stephen W. Cunningham and Associates, zoning consultants and land use specialists, with offices at 3233
Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...
. In 1948 he was on a Los Angeles committee against "
featherbedding Featherbedding is the practice of hiring more workers than are needed to perform a given job, or to adopt work procedures which appear pointless, complex and time-consuming merely to employ additional workers. The term "make-work" is sometimes used ...
" in the railroad industry, a practice requiring extra employees on freight trains."Civic Group Set Up to Get Anti-Featherbedding Votes," ''Los Angeles Times,'' October 10, 1948, page A-7
/ref> He died in his home in Brentwood on July 28, 1956, the day before his 70th birthday and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in
Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
.


References

---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Steve Los Angeles City Council members California Republicans 1886 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American politicians People from San Bernardino, California People from Brentwood, Los Angeles