Daniel Hoan
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer and politician. He became the second Socialist
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, and his tenure is generally considered to be the longest continuous socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
administration in U.S. history. He was the second-longest serving mayor of Milwaukee.
Early years
Daniel Webster Hoan was born in Waukesha, WisconsinWaukesha, Wisconsin
Waukesha is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The population was 70,718 at the 2010 census, making it the largest community in the county and 7th largest in the state. The city is located adjacent to the Town of Waukesha...
, on March 12, 1881. He left school early but he studied at evening classes and in 1908 qualified as a lawyer.
A member of the Socialist Party
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
, Hoan moved to Milwaukee where he worked closely with Victor Berger, the editor of the Socialist daily the Milwaukee Leader
Milwaukee Leader
The Milwaukee Leader was a socialist daily newspaper established in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in December 1911 by Socialist Party chief Victor L. Berger...
, in trying to persuade the city to adopt radical reforms. This included municipal ownership
Municipalization
Municipalization is the transfer of corporations or other assets to municipal ownership. The transfer may be from private ownership or from other levels of government. It is the opposite of privatization and is different from nationalization.-Services:There have been two main waves of...
of utilities, urban renewal programs and free legal, medical and educational services.
Political career
In 1910 Emil SeidelEmil Seidel
Emil Seidel was the mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912. He was the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States, and ran as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America in the 1912 presidential election....
was elected mayor of Milwaukee and became the first socialist leader of a major city in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The same year Hoan became Milwaukee's city attorney and over the next six years he clamped down on the corruption of public officials. In 1916 Hoan was elected as mayor of Milwaukee. Unlike many members of the Socialist Party, Hoan did not oppose United States entry into the First World War.
Hoan remained mayor for twenty-four years, the longest continuous Socialist administration in United States history. He brought in a large number of progressive reforms including the country's first public housing project, Garden Homes, started in 1923. Hoan also led the successful drive towards municipal ownership of the stone quarry, street lighting, sewage disposal and water purification.
During his administration the first bus system in the United States came into being after a number of pedestrians were run over by street trolleys that ran down the middle of the road. Among the victims of such streetcar accidents was Milwaukee newspaper editor and Socialist Party founder and leading light Victor L. Berger, who was killed in 1929.
Hoan developed a reputation for honest and efficient government. In 1999, author Melvin Holli and a group of experts on local government, voted Hoan as the eighth best mayor in United States history. Holli wrote:
"Although this self-identified socialist had difficulty pushing progressive legislation through a nonpartisan city council, he experimented with the municipal marketing of food, backed city-built housing, and in providing public markets, city harbor improvements, and purging graft from Milwaukee politics. Perhaps Hoan's most important legacy was cleaning up the free-and-easy corruption that prevailed before he took office."
At the May 1932 convention of the Socialist Party, Hoan ran for National Chairman of the party against incumbent Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit
Morris Hillquit was a founder and leader of the Socialist Party of America and prominent labor lawyer in New York City's Lower East Side during the early 20th century.-Early years:...
. In addition to the "constructive Socialists" from Wisconsin
Sewer Socialism
Sewer Socialism was a term, originally more or less pejorative, for the American socialist movement that centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and existed from around 1892 to 1960...
, Hoan garnered the support of the young Marxist "Militant" faction and the radical liberals around Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
, but this bloc was insufficient to unseat Hillquit, who won reelection by a vote of 105-86.
Hoan was defeated in the Milwaukee mayoral campaign of 1940 and the next year left the Socialist Party and joined the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1944 and 1946. In 1948 he was unsuccessful in his attempt to once again become mayor of Milwaukee when he was defeated by the Socialist Party's candidate, Frank P. Zeidler
Frank P. Zeidler
Frank Paul Zeidler was an American Socialist politician and Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving three terms from April 20, 1948 to April 18, 1960. He was the most recent Socialist mayor of any major American city, although U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders was the mayor of Burlington, the largest...
.
A highway system was started under his administration, but federal funding was scarce. The system was later expanded to included the Hoan Bridge
Hoan Bridge
The Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge is a tied arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet...
, which was completed in 1972 but not opened to the public until 1977.
Death and legacy
Hoan died on June 11, 1961 and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee. The Hoan papers reside with the Milwaukee County Historical SocietyMilwaukee County Historical Society
The Milwaukee County Historical is the largest of a network of local historical societies in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1935 and is located in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a former bank building that was deeded to the county in the 1960s...
, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Hoan Bridge
Hoan Bridge
The Daniel Hoan Memorial Bridge is a tied arch bridge that connects Interstate 794 in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to the Lake Freeway across the Milwaukee River inlet...
on Milwaukee's lakefront is the most visible monument which bears his name.
Works
- The Failure of Regulation. Chicago: Socialist Party of the United States, 1914.
- Lincoln, the Commoner: Helped in Fight for Education for Workers. Saginaw, MI: Saginaw County Socialist Party, n.d. [192-].
- Socialism and the City: How to Remove Chaos and Put Order and Beauty into American Cities. Girard, KS: Haldeman-Julius Publications, 1931.
- Taxes and Tax Dodgers. Chicago: Committee on Education and Research, Socialist Party of America, 1933.
- Abraham Lincoln: A Real American. Chicago: Socialist Party of the USA, n.d. [c. 1936].
- City Government: The record of the Milwaukee Experiment. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1936.
- Why a Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation? : Address Selivered to the Convention on Saturday, May 21, 1938, at Madison. Milwaukee: The Federation, 1938.
- Dollars vs. The People. Milwaukee: Milwaukee County Central Campaign Committee, n.d. [1940].
- The St. Lawrence Seaway: Navigation Aspects. n.c.: Great Lakes Harbors Association n.d, [1948?].
Additional reading
- Kerstein, Edward S. Milwaukee's All-American Mayor: Portrait of Daniel Webster Hoan. Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
See also
- List of mayors of Milwaukee
- Sewer socialismSewer SocialismSewer Socialism was a term, originally more or less pejorative, for the American socialist movement that centered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and existed from around 1892 to 1960...
- Emil SeidelEmil SeidelEmil Seidel was the mayor of Milwaukee from 1910 to 1912. He was the first Socialist mayor of a major city in the United States, and ran as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America in the 1912 presidential election....
- Frank P. ZeidlerFrank P. ZeidlerFrank Paul Zeidler was an American Socialist politician and Mayor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, serving three terms from April 20, 1948 to April 18, 1960. He was the most recent Socialist mayor of any major American city, although U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders was the mayor of Burlington, the largest...