John Purroy Mitchel
John Purroy Mitchel | |
|---|---|
| 96th Mayor of New York City | |
| In office January 1, 1914 – December 31, 1917 | |
| Preceded by | Ardolph Loges Kline (acting) |
| Succeeded by | John Francis Hylan |
| 34th Collector of the Port of New York | |
| In office June 7, 1913 – December 31, 1913 | |
| Appointed by | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | William Loeb Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Dudley Field Malone |
| 3rd President of the New York City Board of Aldermen | |
| In office January 1, 1910 – June 7, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Patrick F. McGowan |
| Succeeded by | Ardolph L. Kline |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 19, 1879 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | July 6, 1918 (aged 38) Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Resting place | Woodlawn Cemetery |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Olive Child (m. 1909) |
| Parent(s) | James Mitchel Mary Purroy |
| Alma mater | Columbia University New York Law School |
| Occupation | Attorney |
John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 96th 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 the 1913 mayoral election in a landslide, but lost the Republican primary in 1917 and came in second place in the general election as an Independent. He is remembered for his short career as leader of anti-Tammany Hall reform politics in New York, as well as for his early death as an Army Air Service officer during a training flight in Louisiana amid World War I.
Mitchel was praised by reformists in New York. Journalist Oswald Garrison Villard, the editor of The Nation, called him "the ablest and best Mayor New York ever had." Former President Theodore Roosevelt, endorsing Mitchel's re-election bid in 1917, stated that he had "given us as nearly an ideal administration of the New York City government as I have seen in my lifetime." However, he is generally held to have been ineffective as a politician.
Mitchel's later staunchly Roman Catholic New York family had been founded by his paternal grandfather and namesake, John Mitchel, an Ulster Presbyterian Young Irelander who became a renowned writer and leader in the Irish nationalist movement, as well as a staunch supporter of the Confederacy.