The Big City Vote

Some 1,400 elections were held in the U.S. last week. The vast majority were of small significance. But the results in some half dozen mayoralty elections again demonstrated a prime fact of contemporary U.S. political life. The fact: Democrats, with the help of union labor, have a stranglehold on most of the big city vote.

In New York, Democrat Bill O'Dwyer ran up a record plurality (685,175) over Republican Jonah Goldstein, thus giving Governor Tom Dewey a kick on his political shins. In Boston, the ineffable James Michael Curley won out over split opposition, even though he is under indictment for mail fraud. Pittsburgh was kept safely Democratic by the victory of short, greying David L. Lawrence,* who is also Democratic National Committeeman. And Cleveland's colorless Democratic Mayor Thomas A. Burke was re-elected by a landslide. Only in Buffalo did Republicans break a 12-year Democratic rule.

In Detroit's non-partisan election, hefty, left-wing Labor Leader Richard T. Frankensteen, supported by Democrats, was soundly beaten (274,435 to 216,917) by wheel-horsey, three-time Mayor Edward J. Jeffries. What this seemed to prove was that in most cities Democrats and labor unions can elect a Democratic politician who is friendly to labor, but that the election of a labor leader with no previous political connections is a horse of a different color.

In all the cities except Detroit the voters were apathetic. Those who did vote seemed content to choose the lesser of two evils, and they did not want to be bothered with high-flown talk about good government.

*Not to be confused with devoutly Republican Columnist David Lawrence.

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