Carter Harrison Jr.
| Carter Harrison Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 37th Mayor of Chicago | |
|
In office 1897–1905 |
|
| Preceded by | George Bell Swift |
| Succeeded by | Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne |
| 40th Mayor of Chicago | |
|
In office 1911–1915 |
|
| Preceded by | Fred A. Busse |
| Succeeded by | William Hale Thompson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 23, 1860 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | December 25, 1953 (aged 93) Chicago, Illinois |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Edith Ogden Harrison |
| Children | Carter Harrison V, Edith Ogden Harrison II |
| Residence | Chicago, Illinois |
Carter Henry Harrison Jr. (April 23, 1860 – December 25, 1953) was an American politician who served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1897–1905 and 1911–1915). The City's 30th mayor, he was the first actually born in Chicago.
He was born on April 23, 1860 in Chicago.
Like his father, Carter Harrison, Sr., Harrison gained election to five terms as Chicago's mayor. Educated in Saxe-Altenburg, Germany, Harrison returned to Chicago to help his brother run the Chicago Times, which their father bought in 1891. Under the Harrisons the paper became a resolute supporter of the Democratic Party, and was the only local newspaper to support the Pullman strikers in the mid-1890s.
As with his father, Harrison did not believe in trying to legislate morality. As mayor, Harrison believed that Chicagoans' two major desires were to make money and to spend it. During his administrations, Chicago's vice districts blossomed, and special maps were printed to enable tourists to find their way from brothel to brothel. The name of one Chicago saloon-keeper of the time supposedly entered the English language as a term for a strong or laced drink intended to render unconsciousness: Mickey Finn.
However, Harrison was seen as more of a reformer than his father, which helped him garner the middle class votes his father had lacked. One of Harrison's biggest enemies was Charles Yerkes, whose plans to monopolize Chicago's streetcar lines were vigorously attacked by the mayor. During his final term in office, Harrison established the Chicago Vice Commission and worked to close down the Levee district, starting with the Everleigh Club brothel on October 24, 1911.
In spite of prolonged and very damaging international press coverage attaching responsibility to him for the 602 lives lost in the Iroquois Theatre fire on December 30, 1903, Harrison was a hopeful for the 1904 Democratic nomination for President, but was unable to negotiate his way through a tangle of conflicting loyalies to different Party bosses; the nomination went to Alton B. Parker, who was soundly defeated by Theodore Roosevelt.
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