George G. Seibels Jr. (July 16, 1913 – March 28, 2000), was the first Republican to serve as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. Seibels was born in 1913 in

Coronado, California Coronado (Spanish language, Spanish for "Crowned") is a resort town, resort city in San Diego County, California, United States, across San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego. It was founded in the 1880s and incorporated in 1890. Its population ...

. He was the son of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

George Seibels, Sr., of Montgomery, Alabama, and a great-grandson of

George Goldthwaite George Goldthwaite (December 10, 1809March 16, 1879) was an Alabama Supreme Court justice and United States Senate, U.S. senator for Alabama. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877, and did not run for reelection. He was a ...

, former chief justice of the

Alabama Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Alabama is the highest court in the state of Alabama. The court consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Each justice is elected in partisan elections for staggered six-year terms. The Supreme Court is hous ...

and a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

. Seibels was reared in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and graduated in 1937 from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in Virginia, United States. It is the seat of government of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Quee ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in history. At the university, he was the intramural light-heavy weight

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

champion for three years. After graduation, he spent one year playing professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. Seibels moved to Birmingham in 1938 to work in the insurance business. In December 1941, he enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and was commissioned an officer in 1942, rising to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. He served on anti-submarine duty and on a combat minesweeper in the North African and Mediterranean theatres, having participated in the assault on

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Returning to Birmingham after the war, Seibels co-chaired the committee responsible for the safety torch on the

Vulcan statue The ''Vulcan'' statue is the largest cast iron statue in the world, and is the city symbol of Birmingham, Alabama, United States, reflecting its roots in the iron and steel industry. The tall statue depicts the Roman god Vulcan, god of the fi ...

. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Alabama

Jaycees The United States Junior Chamber, also known as the Jaycees, JCs or JCI USA, is a leadership training service organization and civic organization for people between the ages of 18 and 40. It is a branch of Junior Chamber International (JCI). A ...

for traffic safety promotion. In 1947, Birmingham won first place in the Jaycees National Safety Award contest with Seibels as chairman of the local Traffic Safety Committee. The George G. Seibels Traffic Safety Award is now given annually by the Jaycees to the traffic safety chairman whose city has had the best program. Siebels, widely known as a Republican, was elected in the non-partisan election to the Birmingham City Council in 1963. He was part of the progressive slate of council candidates that successfully changed the city charter and ousted "Bull" Connor and his segregationist supporters from City Hall. After a single term on the City Council he was elected mayor in 1967, succeeding the retiring Albert Boutwell, who himself had defeated the notorious "Bull" Connor four years earlier. He served as Mayor from 1967 to 1975 during a period of growth for the city during which Birmingham was designated an "All-American" city. He was narrowly defeated for a third term in 1975 by fellow City Councilman David Vann. Three years later, in 1978 he was elected to the first of three terms representing Jefferson County in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

. As one of the first modern-era Republicans in the legislature he was a vigorous defender of the City of Birmingham. He retired from elective public office in 1990 but remained active in party politics where he was affectionately known as "Mr. Republican" among Alabama GOPers. George Seibels died in Birmingham in March 2000. His final resting place is at the Arlington Antebellum House. In 2003 the Birmingham Zoo renamed its train in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siebels, George G. Jr. 1913 births 2000 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Alabama Alabama city council members Mayors of Birmingham, Alabama Republican Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives University of Virginia people United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy sailors Businesspeople from Alabama People from Coronado, California Players of American football from Virginia 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century members of the Alabama Legislature