John Fulmer Bright was an American politician and physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

.

Bright received an M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in 1898. He sat in the Virginia House of Delegates

Virginia House of Delegates

The Virginia House of Delegates is the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbered years. The House is presided over by the Speaker of the House, who is elected from among the...

 representing the city of Richmond

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 in 1922.

Bright served as mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Richmond 1924–1940. As mayor, He believed in limited government and frequently vetoed development projects. He also opposed the federal housing program during the Great Depression. Largely in response to the way he had used his veto power, in 1948 a new city charter weakened the mayor's power by implementing a city manager

City manager

A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city, in a council-manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are sometimes referred to as the chief executive officer or chief administrative officer in some municipalities...

system and replaced the bicameral city council with a single nine-person body whose members were elected at large.