Andrew James Peters (April 3, 1872 – June 26, 1938) was an American politician who served as the

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a m ...

and as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

. He is today best remembered for being a suspect in the

death of Starr Faithfull Starr Faithfull (born Marian Starr Wyman, January 27, 1906 – June 6, 1931) was an American socialite and a model for the Walter Thornton Modeling Agency whose mysterious drowning death in 1931 became a much-covered tabloid story. Newspapers pu ...

Early years

Peters was born on April 3, 1872, in

West Roxbury, Massachusetts West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, bordered by Roslindale and Jamaica Plain to the northeast, the village of Chestnut Hill and the town of Brookline to the north, the city of Newton to the northwest, t ...

. His family had been in Massachusetts since the first Andrew Peters arrived there in 1657. He attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

earning an A.B. in 1895 and a LL.B. from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1898.

Political career

Peters served two terms in the

Massachusetts State Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the s ...

(1904, 1905). In 1906, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1907 to 1914. In 1914, Peters was appointed to be

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury is one of several positions in the United States Department of the Treasury, serving under the United States Secretary of the Treasury. History According to the U.S. statute, there are eight Assis ...

under

William Gibbs McAdoo William Gibbs McAdoo Jr.McAdoo is variously differentiated from family members of the same name: * Dr. William Gibbs McAdoo (1820–1894) – sometimes called "I" or "Senior" * William Gibbs McAdoo (1863–1941) – sometimes called "II" or "J ...

in the first administration of President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

. He served there until 1918, when he began his term as Mayor of Boston, having defeated incumbent

James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston between 1914 and 1955. Curley ran for mayor in every election for which he ...

in the 1917 mayoral election. He handled the Boston police strike in 1919. Peters was considered for

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

later in the 1920s, but was not nominated. He served as treasurer of a Massachusetts state campaign against money-hoarding organized at the request of President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

in 1932, and was named to the Massachusetts Advisory Committee of the

Home Owners' Loan Corporation The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a government-sponsored corporation created as part of the New Deal. The corporation was established in 1933 by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation Act under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roo ...

in 1933.

Personal life

Peters married Martha Phillips in 1910 and they had six children. Peters' cousin-in-law, Helen Faithfull, had a young daughter named Starr Wyman, later Starr Faithfull, who attracted his attention in 1917. A student of the

Rogers Hall School Rogers Hall School was a college preparatory finishing school for girls with day and boarding students in Lowell, Massachusetts. Roger's Hall School was founded by Emily and Elizabeth Rogers, who inherited the main building in 1880. Emily, who h ...

in Lowell, Massachusetts, she spent summers with the Peters. He began to sexually abuse her when she was age 11, dosing her with

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R� ...

, reading to her from

Havelock Ellis Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, Progressivism, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on h ...

's books about sex, and taking her to hotels. She drowned under mysterious circumstances off

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in 1931. When her diaries were found, the story came out, and her stepfather produced evidence that Peters paid him and Helen to keep quiet. Through a family friend and attorney, Peters denied "improper relations" with her. He is reported to have had a

nervous breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

as a result of the scandal. This story became part of the material used by

John O'Hara John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of Short story, short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'H ...

in his novel ''

BUtterfield 8 ''BUtterfield 8'' is a 1960 American drama film directed by Daniel Mann, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Laurence Harvey. Taylor won her first Academy Award for her performance in a leading role. The film was based on a 1935 novel of the same ...

''. Peters is a key character in

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author and screenwriter. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including '' A Drink Before the War''. Four of hi ...

's novel '' The Given Day''. Peters died of pneumonia in Boston on June 26, 1938.

References

*Goodman, Jonathan.: ''The Passing of Starr Faithfull''. (London: Piatkus, c. 1990) *Russell, Francis.: ''A City in Terror, 1919: The Boston Police Strike'' (New York: Viking Press, c. 1975) *Russell, Francis.: ''The Knave of Boston & Other Ambiguous Massachusetts Characters'' (Boston: Quinlan Press, c. 1988) (pp. 68–84: "The Mayor and the Nymphet") *City of Boston Statistics Department ''The Municipal Register for 1918'' (1918) p. 2.

External links

Peters election results
at ourcampaigns.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Andrew J. 20th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts Mayors of Boston Democratic Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Democratic Party Massachusetts state senators Harvard Law School alumni 1872 births 1938 deaths Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts People from Jamaica Plain 20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Early years

Political career

Personal life

See also

References

Further reading

External links