Walter Washington

Walter Washington
Mayor of the District of Columbia
In office
January 2, 1975 – January 2, 1979
Preceded byHimself (Mayor-Commissioner)
Succeeded byMarion Barry
Mayor-Commissioner of the District of Columbia
In office
November 7, 1967 – January 2, 1975
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Preceded byWalter Nathan Tobriner (President of the Board of Commissioners)
Succeeded byHimself (Mayor)
Personal details
Born
Walter Edward Washington

(1915-04-15)April 15, 1915
Dawson, Georgia, U.S.
DiedOctober 27, 2003(2003-10-27) (aged 88)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeLincoln Memorial Cemetery (Suitland, Maryland)
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
(m. 1942; died 1991)
(m. 1994)
Children1
EducationHoward University (BA, LLB)

Walter Edward Washington (April 15, 1915 – October 27, 2003) was an American civil servant and politician. After a career in public housing,[1] Washington was the chief executive of the District of Columbia from 1967 to 1979, serving as the first and only Mayor-Commissioner of the District of Columbia from 1967 to 1974, and as the first Mayor of the District of Columbia from 1975 to 1979.

He was the first African-American mayor of a major city in the United States, and in 1974 became the capital's first popularly elected mayor since 1871.[2] Congress had passed a law granting home rule to the capital, while reserving some authorities. Washington won the first mayoral election in 1974, and served from 1975 until 1979.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Civil Rights Tour: Political Empowerment - Walter Washington, Mayor-Commissioner - 408 T Street NW". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved 2021-05-15.