David L. Lawrence

David Leo Lawrence (June 18, 1889 – November 21, 1966) was an American politician who served as the 37th

When he returned home from the army in 1919, Lawrence was elected as chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Party. At the time, Pittsburgh was a Republican bastion, with Democrats holding wide support only in the lower class and among recent immigrants, who were concentrated in industrial jobs. With the help of Joe Guffey, a future US Senator, Lawrence led the rising Pennsylvania Democratic party that would soon dominate local and statewide politics. In the 1928 presidential election, Lawrence worked hard for Alfred E. Smith from New York, another Irish Roman Catholic politician who had also risen from the slums without the benefit of a formal education. The vicious anti-Catholic campaign that defeated Al Smith that year had a profound effect on Lawrence. He believed that Roman Catholicism was an insurmountable handicap in United States presidential politics.^[7] Consequently, at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, Lawrence deserted Al Smith's presidential campaign and delivered the Pennsylvania delegation to Franklin D. Roosevelt, solely because of his fear of the religious issue.

Meanwhile, in 1931, Lawrence had run for Allegheny County Commissioner but lost. It was one of his last losses, as the effects of the

From 1950 through 1952, Lawrence served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors.^[8]

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli saw Lawrence ranked as the third-best American big-city mayor to serve between the years 1820 and 1993.^[9]

Pennsylvania politics

After an unprecedented four terms as mayor of Pittsburgh, Lawrence was drafted by Democrats to run for governor

In 1960, Lawrence was among a group of political leaders who created the Finnegan Foundation, which provide practical training in government and politics for outstanding undergraduate students by offering ten-week paid internships in the state government in Harrisburg each summer.^{[citation needed]}

National politics

Lawrence had attended his first

At the 1948 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, where Harry Truman sought the Democratic presidential nomination with Lawrence's support, however, Lawrence would surprise liberals and conservatives alike by shifting the Pennsylvania delegation away from the more tepid civil rights plank that the Administration preferred to a more aggressively liberal one.

In 1958 (during the heat of the Governor's race), then Mayor Lawrence was eventually exonerated of influencing the Federal Communications Commission along with the U.S. Senator from Florida, George Smathers. The charges involved the granting of a television license to WTAE-TV between its ownership group and that of WPXI. The U.S. House hearings with Lawrence present were high drama.^[13]

Later life

Limited to one term under existing state law, Lawrence retired from elected office in 1963. He continued to be active in Democratic politics and served the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as Chairman of the President's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Housing.^[14]

Death

Lawrence fell ill and collapsed on November 4, 1966, at a campaign rally held at Pittsburgh's

He is buried in Pittsburgh's Calvary Cemetery, behind the plot of his longtime friend Harry Greb and beside the plots of his two eldest sons, who had died years before.^[18]

Lawrence's death was subsequently ascribed to the cramped conditions and limited resuscitation equipment in the hearse-type ambulance in which he was taken to hospital. This catalyzed reform and improvement in Pittsburgh's ambulance service and those of other American cities.^[22]

Family

Lawrence's two eldest sons both died as passengers in a joyriding car accident on April 19, 1942, north of Pittsburgh near Zelienople along U.S. Route 19.^[23]

Another son, Gerald Lawrence, became the long-time Vice President and General Manager of Churchill Downs, the prominent racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky.^[24]

His grandson Tom Donahoe served as General Manager for the hometown Pittsburgh Steelers from 1991 until 1999, helping take the team to Super Bowl XXX. He later served as GM for the Buffalo Bills from 2001 until 2005, as well as a contributor to ESPN.com.^[25]

Another grandson, Gerald "Jerry" Lawrence, is the chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s seven-county Southeast Caucus and candidate to be Chairperson of the statewide Democratic Party.^[26]

Honors

Buildings named in honor of Lawrence include

• 1945 Race for Pittsburgh Mayor
  • David Lawrence (D), 52%
  • Rob Waddell (R), 47%
• 1949 Race for Pittsburgh Mayor
  • David Lawrence (D), 60%
  • Tim Ryan (R), 39%
• 1953 Race for Pittsburgh Mayor
  • David Lawrence (D), 62%
  • Leonard Patrick Kane (R), 37%
• 1957 Race for Pittsburgh Mayor
  • David Lawrence (D), 64%
  • John Drew (R), 35%
• 1958 Race for Pennsylvania Governor
  • David Lawrence (D), 53%
  • Arthur McGonigle (R), 46%

Notes