John Hylan
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John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936), also known as "Red Mike" Hylan, was the 96th
Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...
(the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the
Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...
, Hylan eventually obtained work in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
as a laborer on the elevated railroad. During his nine years with the company, he worked his way to engineer, and also studied to earn his high school diploma. He continued by earning a law degree. He practiced law for nine years, and also participated in local Democratic politics. In 1917 with the consent of
Tammany Tamanend ("the Affable"; ), historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenape, Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the founding peace t ...
and
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, he was put forward as a Brooklyn Democratic candidate for Mayor and won the first of two terms. He was re-elected with a wide plurality, which swept many Brooklyn Democrats into office. His chief focus in office was to keep subway fares from rising. By the end of his second term, however, a report by a committee appointed by Governor
Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...
severely criticized his administration's handling of the subway system. Tammany ran
Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...
against him for the Democratic nomination and Hylan lost. Walker appointed him to the Children's Court where he sat for many years. After his term as mayor, Hylan spent much time attacking the "interests," arguing that industrial concentration gave great power to individuals to influence politics and impoverish the
working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...
.


Early life

Hylan was born in 1868 in
Hunter, New York Hunter is a town located in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 3,035 at the time of the 2020 census.U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 census results. https://www.census.gov/search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp=SERP&q=Hunter%2 ...
. He was the third child, and had two older sisters and two younger brothers. Hylan's father had emigrated from
County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...
,
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
, Ireland at the age of seven. He served as a corporal in the 120th New York Infantry, called the "Ulster Regiment," during the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
. Hylan's mother, who came from the Jones family upstate, had a Welsh father and a maternal grandfather, Jacob Gadron, who fought in the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
among Lafayette's forces. He fondly remembered her throughout his life and wrote that the words she spoke on his leaving the family ("Be honest, be truthful, be upright, and do by others as you would have them do unto you") were "indelibly imprinted on" his memory. Although his mother was Methodist, Hylan was raised a Catholic. His only surviving family, his sister Mary, died after being struck by an automobile on July 10, 1911. Hylan's family owned a 60-acre farm in the then-undeveloped mountains and struggled to make the semi-annual interest on its $1,500 mortgage. As the oldest boy, Hylan was required to work long hours on the farm, which was not equipped with much more than hand tools. Farm work came first, the school district was impoverished, and only one family could afford the required grammar or history book, which Hylan occasionally borrowed. School lasted four to five hours a day for five months a year. In his teenage years, Hylan made extra money to help pay the mortgage interest by working each spring for the Catskill railroad, digging earth and tamping it beneath the tracks to stabilize them after the effects of winter weather.


Early career

By the winter of 1887, when he was 19, Hylan felt he could make more money for his parents by working downstate. With $3.50 and a few sets of clothes, he set off to New York, buying a $2 train ticket and then crossing the
Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...
. On his first day he saw construction on an elevated railroad. Although he had never seen such a thing before, he climbed onto the structure and asked the foreman for a job, saying that he had worked on the Catskill railroad. He was told to report the next day, where his job was to lay rails. Seeking a promotion, he applied at the office of the manager of the Brooklyn Union Elevated Railroad each day until he was finally granted an interview and promoted to
fireman A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...
. He made $1.50 a day for this heavy labor. He reported to the
East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough line to the north; ...
station on March 11, 1888, the day of the Great Blizzard. After two years as stoker, then as engine hostler, Hylan passed the required test and was given a job as an engineer, in "one of the happiest moments of islife." Making $3.50 a day, he said, "finally landed imon the right side of the engine cab." It required long hours: 13-hour runs on weekdays, 12 hours on Saturdays, and 11 on Sundays. When Hylan felt himself economically secure, even before he became engineer, he went back to Hunter and married his childhood sweetheart Marian O'Hara. They moved to
Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southe ...
, a section of Brooklyn where they would spend most of the rest of their lives. During his years as a motorman, he regularly paid the $75 semiannual interest payment for his family's farm and paid the principal off before he left that job. Hylan wrote that he had no inclination to seek any other position once he was settled and making $100 a month. Hylan considered law because his younger brother, who had been studying law and on whom his parents had pinned hopes and family pride, had died. His wife encouraged him, but because of his limited education, he had to study at the Long Island Business College to prepare himself for his Regents exam before he could begin to study law. He got into law school with the help of his wife, as well as that of a teacher who gave up his lunch hour to help, and for whom Hylan later found a position in the Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity when he became mayor. After he passed his Regents exam, he enrolled in
New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...
where
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 ...
, who was teaching Constitutional Law there at the time, was among his professors. After graduating in October 1897, Hylan clerked for
Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a neighborhood within the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; Sunnyside to the east; and Newtown Creek, which separates Queens from Greenpoint, Brook ...
attorney James T. Olwell. He prepared himself in two and a half years. The earliest bar exam he could take was in Syracuse, but immediately before he was set to take the exam, he was involved in a near accident with the railroad's supervisor. Hylan said that it was the supervisor's fault, but nonetheless, he was fired. Even so, the privileges of his membership in the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) is a trade union, labor union founded in Marshall, Michigan, on 8 May 1863 as the Brotherhood of the Footboard. It was the first permanent trade organization for railroad workers in the ...
enabled him to travel to Syracuse at no charge, and he passed the bar exam.


Law and politics


Law career

Hylan learned that law practices required startup cash, so he mortgaged the farm again to raise $500. With that sum, he set up an office on the corner of Gates Avenue and
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
in Bushwick. He made $24 his first month, but gradually built up a good civil litigation practice. He soon formed a partnership with Harry C. Underhill, an attorney who had written a treatise on evidence and would go on to write on other practice topics. Underhill did the office work, while Hylan was the trial lawyer. The firm occasionally received positive local publicity, such as the time when they obtained a ruling that the Brooklyn Heights Railroad Company had to offer free transfers at all junctions. Hylan litigated small civil cases and family law matters. He had little work in the police courts and "never cared for that branch of the law." After eight years in the courts of Brooklyn, he was respected enough to begin getting appointments within the power of local judges. Hylan had higher ambitions, so he began making the kind of connections expected of someone considering a run for higher office. One connection he made, albeit by accident, was John H. McCooey, the future Brooklyn Democratic Party boss; they met when McCooey was a postal clerk and Hylan was sending money orders to his parents for interest payments on the family farm's mortgage. Hylan would remain grateful for the kindness McCooey showed him, and they remained friends thereafter. Other contacts were made by constant attendance at local organizations, political and otherwise. In addition to his union membership, which he kept up even when he was mayor, he was a member of the Foresters of America, the Broadway Board of Trade, the Twenty-eighth Ward Taxpayer Association, and he began working his way up the local Democratic club.


Politics and judgeships

Hylan emerged from obscurity in Brooklyn Democratic politics during the citywide elections of 1903, a campaign during which several internal Democratic power struggles worked themselves out. In Manhattan Charles Francis Murphy had recently replaced
Richard Croker Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker", was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of R ...
as head of the Tammany machine. Murphy, who had become independently wealthy from a trucking company which leased docks from the city and rented them to shipping companies, fixed his goal as Tammany chief to extend Tammany influence to all the boroughs and then beyond. He decided to dislodge Fusionist mayor
Seth Low Seth Low (January 18, 1850 – September 17, 1916) was an American educator and political figure who served as the mayor of Brooklyn from 1881 to 1885, the president of Columbia University from 1890 to 1901, a diplomatic representative of ...
by running George B. McClellan Jr., son of the Civil War general who had run against
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
in 1864.. The move was unpopular in Brooklyn, whose leaders believed that McClellan would hurt down-ticket Brooklyn candidates; they concluded that running McClellan likely would cost them the district attorney and sheriff's offices, not to mention borough and judicial races. Some observers believed that it was Murphy's intention, despite the risk of lost votes in Brooklyn, as long as he could cut off the Kings County party's independent base of patronage. Murphy's highhandedness rankled others as well. At the City Committee meeting on September 18, party leaders from Queens, the Bronx and Richmond joined Brooklyn in expressing their concern. Independent Manhattan Democrats also objected to Murphy's action, including the Greater New York Democracy, which decided for the Fusion ticket, and former Tammany police chief Bill Devery, who decided to run for Mayor himself. Even several Tammany chiefs questioned the wisdom of the McClellan choice. Brooklyn party leader Hugh McLaughlin decided to test Murphy's hold over the outer boroughs and gave an interview promising to oppose Murphy's nominee at the city convention. At the Democratic City Committee meeting on September 24, Murphy defied Brooklyn leaders to take the fight over McClellan to the Convention the next week, knowing that Tammany controlled a majority of the delegates. With a view to sowing confusion among the Fusionists, Murphy without consultation outside of Tammany proposed adding two Fusion candidates to the ticket—Edward M. Grout for Controller and Charles V. Fornes for President of the Board of Aldermen. The proposed nomination of two Fusion candidates by Tammany so disturbed the non-Tammany Democrats that, after much behind-the-scenes scheming, McLaughlin announced a complex plan the day before the convention to either dislodge McClellan from the ticket and Murphy from Tammany in the process or provide an anti-Tammany Democratic ticket that would run against Tammany's ticket. The convention took place on October 1, 1903 at Carnegie Hall. At the beginning it looked as if the Kings County delegation could engineer a stampede against the Tammany ticket. Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Martin W. Littleton led the charge, looking directly at Murphy in front of him and delivering a blistering speech scoring Tammany "treachery" for selecting Democratic "traitor" Grout. Robert H. Elder followed him, placing in nomination Julian D. Fairchild in Grout's place and reminded the convention that Grout had been a Republican and left the Brooklyn Democrats because of their association with Tammany. Littleton rose again to remind the delegates that Grout once called Tammany a "stench in his nostrils." The "excitement reached a climax" when one Tammany leader broke with Murphy against Grout causing "wild applause." Murphy and the Tammany leaders sat through the abuse, smiling, and in the end the Brooklyn Democrats were routed by the near unanimous Tammany vote. While the Kings County delegation under the leadership of state senator Patrick H. McCarren made show of unity by moving the unanimous nomination of McClellan when its nominee was defeated, a similar motion for Grout and Fornes, however, was "howled down." The next day at the Brooklyn Democratic headquarters in the auction room on Willoughby Street, all talk of McLaughlin's plan for an opposition ticket to Tammany's had ceased. If McClellan won the mayoralty, all Brooklyn patronage would go through him and Tammany. While Brooklyn maintained its objection to Grout and Fornes, that did little good for the Brooklyn party unless McClellan lost, but McCarren and the rest at the Convention eventually endorsed McClellan. As one Democrat put it: "Tammany's coming to Brooklyn sure and the Old Man cLaughlinwill take his medicine." For McLaughlin whether he would remain in charge of the Brooklyn Democrats now depended on his former subordinate McCarren. McCarren, however, used the occasion to take over the Brooklyn organization, and in the turmoil Hylan made his first move for party advancement.


Mayor of New York City

Hylan defeated the reformer
John Purroy Mitchel John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 95th mayor of New York, in office from 1914 to 1917. At 34, he was the second-youngest mayor of the city, and was sometimes referred to as the "Boy Mayor of New York". Mitchel won t ...
in the four-sided 1917 mayoral election, restoring the power of Tammany at City Hall. Hylan was the first Democratic candidate to obtain a significant portion of the
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
voter base. He easily won re-election in 1921 but was defeated for re-nomination in 1925 by State Senator James J. "Jimmy" Walker. Walker later appointed Hylan to the municipal judiciary. As mayor, Hylan railed against "the interests" and put in motion the building of the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
, which would later become part of the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...
. On December 30, 1925, Hylan resigned from office one day before the end of his term in order to assure his eligibility for a $4,205 annual pension from the city. The
Hylan Boulevard Hylan Boulevard is a major northeast-southwest boulevard in the New York City borough of Staten Island, and the longest street in a single borough in the city. It is approximately long, and runs from the North Shore neighborhood of Roseban ...
in
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
was renamed for him in 1923 over the protests of his political opponents. Hylan developed a reputation for not being exceptionally intelligent or well-spoken. According to
Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...
, Hylan went through most of a mayoral campaign using just one stump speech: a call to keep the five-cent subway fare in place. He asked for Moses' help in preparing another, and Moses obliged. The first time Hylan tried to deliver the new speech, he reached the climax—a Revolutionary War-inspired "I call for the spirit of 1776"—but rather than closing out on a high note, Hylan missed the context and read out the number's digits, saying, "I call for the spirit of one-seven-seven-six." In another story recounted about Hylan's supposed lack of intelligence and articulateness, his successor
Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...
appointed Hylan as judge of the Queens Children's Court. When journalist Alva Johnston asked Walker why he would appoint a rival to a judgeship, Walker quipped, "The children now can be tried by their peer."


Famous speech

Hylan's most famous statement against "the interests" was the following speech, made in 1922, while he was the sitting Mayor of New York City:


Death

Hylan died of a heart attack at the age of 67 on January 12, 1936, at his home in
Forest Hills, Queens Forest Hills is a neighborhood in the central portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. It is adjacent to Corona to the north, Rego Park and Glendale to the west, Forest Park to the south, Kew Gardens to the southeast and Flushing ...
.


See also

*
List of mayors of New York City The mayor of New York City is the chief executive of the Government of New York City, as stipulated by New York City's charter. The current officeholder, the 110th in the sequence of regular mayors, is Eric Adams, a member of the Democratic ...

Abridged recording of Mayor Hylan reading his acceptance speech on renomination as Mayor in 1921 for the General Phonograph Corporation.


Notes and references


Notes


References


Sources

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Further reading

* * * *


External links


Digitized photographs of John F. Hylan (1918-1922)
from the
NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...
Annual Reports, Lloyd Sealy Library Digital Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Hylan, John F. 1868 births 1936 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in New York (state) American people of Irish descent American people of Welsh descent Burials at St. John's Cemetery (Queens) Mayors of New York City New York (state) Democrats New York Law School alumni People from Bushwick, Brooklyn People from Forest Hills, Queens People from Greene County, New York Catholics from New York (state)