John Purroy Mitchel

John Purroy Mitchel
95th Mayor of New York City
In office
January 1, 1914 – December 31, 1917
Preceded byArdolph Loges Kline
Succeeded byJohn Francis Hylan
Personal details
Born(1879-07-19)July 19, 1879
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 6, 1918(1918-07-06) (aged 38)
Lake Charles, Louisiana, U.S.
Resting placeWoodlawn Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Olive Child
​
(m. 1909)​
Parent(s)James Mitchel
Mary Purroy
Alma materColumbia University
New York Law School
OccupationAttorney

John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 95th mayor of New York, in office from 1914 to 1917.[1][2] 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.[1]

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."[3] 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."[3] However, he is generally held to have been ineffective as a politician.[4][5]

Mitchel's staunchly 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.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York" on the official NYC website Archived 2012-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b McClymer, p. 376.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).