Philadelphia municipal election, 1955

Elections in Pennsylvania
Federal government Presidential elections 1789 1792 1796 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 United States Senate elections Class One 1788 1793 1794 1797 1802 1808 February 1814 1814 1820-21 1826 1831 1832-33 1840 1845 1851 1857 1861 1863 1869 1875 1881 1887 1893 1901 1905 1909 1911 1916 1922 1928 1934 1940 1946 1952 1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1991 1994 2000 2006 2012 Class Three 1788 1795 1801 December 1801 1806 1812 1818 1824–25 1830 1834 1836 1843 1845 1849 1856 1861 1867 1873 1877 1879 1885 1891 1897 1903 1909 1914 1920 1922 1926 1930 1932 1938 1944 1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016 House of Representatives elections 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016
State government Gubernatorial elections 1790 1793 1796 1799 1802 1805 1808 1811 1814 1817 1820 1823 1826 1829 1832 1835 1838 1841 1844 1860 1898 1906 1910 1914 1918 1922 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 2000 2004 2008 · 2012 2016 Auditor General elections 2000 2004 2008 2012 State Treasurer elections 2000 2004 2008 2012 State Senate elections 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 State House Elections 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
Elections by year State elections 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016
Philadelphia Mayoral elections 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 Other municipal elections 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017
Pittsburgh Mayoral elections 1925 1929 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1953 1957 1959 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2007 2009 2013 2017
Lancaster Mayoral elections 2009

Philadelphia's municipal election of November 8, 1955 involved contests for mayor, district attorney, all seventeen city council seats, among other offices. Citywide, the Democrats took majorities of over 130,000 votes, continuing their success from the elections four years earlier. Richardson Dilworth, who had been elected district attorney in 1951, was elected mayor. Victor H. Blanc, a city councilman, was elected district attorney. The Democrats also kept fourteen of seventeen city council seats, losing one district seat while gaining another, and kept control of the other citywide offices. The election represented a further consolidation of control by the Democrats after their citywide victories of four years earlier.

Mayor

Richardson Dilworth

In the mayor's race, incumbent Democrat Joseph S. Clark, Jr., who had earlier declared he would serve only one term, did not run for reelection.^[1] He instead ran for election to the United States Senate in 1956 and was successful, serving in the Senate for twelve years.^[1] For the open seat, Democrat Richardson Dilworth ran against Republican Thacher Longstreth.^[2]

After service in World War I and a law degree from Yale, Dilworth practiced law in Philadelphia.^[3] He and Clark were allies in the anti-corruption reform effort that had swept the city four years earlier.^[3] Dilworth had run for mayor unsuccessfully in 1947, with Clark as his campaign manager. In 1949, he was elected City Treasurer. He resigned that post to run for governor in 1950, but was defeated by Republican John S. Fine.^[2] Democratic party leaders had intended Dilworth to be their candidate for mayor again in 1951, but when Clark announced his candidacy, Dilworth agreed to run for district attorney instead.^[1] He won, taking just shy of 58% of the vote.^[4] In the primary election in May, Dilworth easily defeated his underfunded opponent, William A. Paschall, a local meat dealer.^[5]

The Republicans nominated Thacher Longstreth, a 35-year-old advertising executive who had never run for office before.^[2] He emerged the victor of a four-way primary contest over George P. Williams (the Republican leadership's preferred candidate), city magistrate James J. Clothier, and Oscar H. Newman, a deputy constable.^[5] Longstreth's campaign got off to a rocky start when he broke with the city Republican organization over their failure to elect his preferred candidate, John M. Pomeroy, as chairman of the Republican City Committee.^[6] Although he did receive a campaign visit and endorsement from President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Longstreth had little other assistance from the Republican party machine and ran as an "Independent Republican".^[2] Republicans still held an edge in voter registration in 1955, but their share of the electorate continued to decline over previous years.^[7]

The result was a landslide for Dilworth.^[2] In an election with higher than expected turnout, the Democrat took 59% of the vote, a slight increase over the party's tally from the mayoral contest of four years earlier.^[2] The Democrats carried 44 of the city's 52 wards.^[8] Longstreth conceded defeat early in the evening, and said that he hoped for "an administration that will be good for all people and the progress of our great city".^[9] The Philadephia Inquirer described the result as "a ringing indorsement [sic] of the policies of Mayor Joseph S. Clark, Jr., whose Democratic administration was the key issue in the Fall ballot drive."^[9]

District Attorney

For the open office of district attorney, vacated by Dilworth when he ran for mayor, the Democrats nominated city councilman Victor H. Blanc against the Republicans' Wilhelm F. Knauer. Blanc, a veteran of both World Wars and former assistant district attorney, had been elected to city council in an at-large seat in 1951.^[11] During his time on the council, he was in charge of an investigation into corruption in construction at Philadelphia International Airport.^[11] Knauer, a state deputy attorney general, was a long-time Republican party leader. His wife, Virginia Knauer, would later be elected to city council. As in the mayor's race, the Democrats were victorious, and Blanc was elected. His vote totals led the Democratic ticket, exceeding even Dilworth's numbers.^[8]

City Council

Philadelphians elected a seventeen-member city council in 1955, with ten members representing districts of the city, and the remaining seven being elected at-large. For the at-large seats, each political party could nominate five candidates, and voters could only vote for five, with the result being that the majority party could only take five of the seven seats, leaving two for the minority party. The Democrats' citywide dominance continued into the city council races, as they retained control of nine of ten districts and five of seven at-large seats.^[11]

In the at-large races, the two incumbent Democratic candidates, Victor E. Moore and Paul D'Ortona, led the ticket. Three other Democrats were also elected: John F. Byrne, Sr., who had previously been councilman for the 10th district; Henry W. Sawyer, a civil rights lawyer; and Marshall L. Shepard, a clergyman who had served as Commissioner of Records.^[12] On the Republican side, incumbent at-large councilman Louis Schwartz was re-elected. The other Republican incumbent, Donald C. Rubel, who had won a special election as an independent Republican backed by Democrats, lost his spot to Thomas M. Foglietta, a young lawyer and son of former councilman Michael Foglietta.^[12] Also losing bids for the Republican at-large seats were real estate assessor F. Raymond Heuges and former magistrate Hobson R. Reynolds.^[11]

At the district level, Democratic incumbents Thomas I. Guerin (district 1), Harry Norwitch (district 3), Samuel Rose (district 4), Raymond Pace Alexander (district 5), Michael J. Towey (district 6), James Hugh Joseph Tate (district 7), and Charles M. Finley (district 9) were all reelected. In the 2nd district, Democrat Gaetano Giordano took the seat from Republican David Zwanetz, who was nominated when incumbent Republican William M. Phillips did not run for reelection. In the 8th, the Republicans evened the score as state representative Wilbur H. Hamilton narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Constance Dallas. Hamilton's brother, Robert S. Hamilton, had lost to Dallas four years earlier. In the final district council seat, the 10th, Democrat John M. McDevitt was elected to the seat previously held by Byrne.^[11] The Inquirer called the Democratic downballot victories "a rebuke to Republican leaders who sought to tie in the campaign with the 1956 Presidential election," and credited the Democrats with campaigning "on the theory that the issues were purely local."^[9]

Philadelphia city council districts after the 1955 election (Democrats in blue, Republicans in red)

Other offices and ballot measures

The Democrats' success continued in the down-ballot races. Democratic city commissioners Maurice C. Osser and Thomas P. McHenry were releected (the office was called "county commissioner" when they were elected four years earlier) as was Republican Walter I. Davidson. William M. Lennox was reelected county sheriff and Joseph A. Scanlon was reelected clerk of the court of quarter sessions (a court whose jurisdiction is now exercised by the court of common pleas).^[10] The Democrats also took four of the seven magisterial district judge positions up for election that year (a local court, the duties of which are now performed by the Philadelphia Municipal Court).^[8] The ballot contained two referendums authorizing the city to take loans for construction of medical facilities, streets, sewers, playgrounds, and other civic improvements. They passed with overwhelming support, each tallying 84% affirmative votes.^[14]

See also

• List of members of Philadelphia City Council since 1952

References

Sources