Michael DiSalle
Encyclopedia
Michael Vincent DiSalle (January 6, 1908 – September 14, 1981) was a Democratic politician from Ohio
. He served as the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio
and the 60th Governor of Ohio.
, when he was three years old. He graduated with a bachelor's degree
from Georgetown University
and married the former Myrtle E. England. The couple had four daughters and one son.
DiSalle attended law school and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1932. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives
in 1937, then ran for and was elected to a series of positions in Toledo. In 1946, DiSalle ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives
but lost to the incumbent, Republican
Homer A. Ramey
. DiSalle was elected as mayor of Toledo, and served from 1948 to 1950.
He ran (unsuccessfully) for the Democratic
nomination for the United States Senate
in 1950. In December 1950, President
Harry S. Truman
named DiSalle director of the Office of Price Stabilization, a Korean War
-era agency which established and enforced wartime price controls. He resigned on January 23, 1952, to run for the Senate again, and lost in the general election to incumbent Republican Senator John W. Bricker
.
DiSalle was the Democratic Nominee for Governor of Ohio in 1956, but was defeated. In 1958 DiSalle had a rematch against his opponent, C. William O'Neill
. This time DiSalle won. The length of the Governor's term had been increased to four years and DiSalle served from 1959 to 1963. In July 1959 DiSalle signed the bill making "With God, all things are possible
" the official motto of the State of Ohio. The motto was taken from the Gospel of Matthew 19:26.
DiSalle was Ohio's favorite son
candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency
in 1960
. He ran only in his home state, which he won by a comfortable margin of 60.25% against his opponent, Albert S. Porter
. This secured him a sixth place in total popular vote in the primaries (behind John F. Kennedy
, Pat Brown
, George H. McLain
, Hubert Humphrey
and George Smathers
).
He lost reelection as governor in 1962 after voters disapproved of his support for an end to capital punishment, a tax hike, and a state policy which billed wards of the state for living necessities.
opponent and commuted a number of sentences, despite allowing six executions as Governor. DiSalle personally investigated all cases of people schedulded to be electrocuted
and even personally met with some of them. "To demonstrate his faith in rehabilitation, [DiSalle] made it a point to hire convicted murderers to serve on his household staff."
One of DiSalle's primary concerns regarding the death penalty was that poorer defendants did not have the same access to counsel as rich defendants, and therefore would suffer the death penalty disproportionately. He recalled: I found that the men in death row had one thing in common: they were penniless.
After leaving Governorship DiSalle co-founded and served as a chairman of the National Committee to Abolish Federal Death Penalty.
His 1965 book, The Power of Life and Death, discusses this issue and chronicles his difficult experiences as the man charged with making the final decision regarding a sentence commutation. He is quoted in the book Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution as saying, "No one who has never watched the hands of a clock marking the last minutes of a condemned man's existence, knowing that he alone has the temporary Godlike power to stop the clock, can realize the agony of deciding an appeal for executive clemency."
DiSalle led a draft movement
for Massachusetts
Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1968, and served as the honorary chairman of Kennedy's 1980 presidential
bid.
DiSalle died in 1981 of a heart attack while vacationing in Pescara, Italy
.
:
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. He served as the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
and the 60th Governor of Ohio.
Early life and career
He was born in New York City to Italian American immigrant parents, Anthony and Assunta DiSalle. His family moved to Toledo, OhioToledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, when he was three years old. He graduated with a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
and married the former Myrtle E. England. The couple had four daughters and one son.
DiSalle attended law school and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1932. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
in 1937, then ran for and was elected to a series of positions in Toledo. In 1946, DiSalle ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
but lost to the incumbent, Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Homer A. Ramey
Homer A. Ramey
Homer Alonzo Ramey was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born on a farm near Sparta, South Bloomfield Township, Ohio, Ramey attended the grade and high schools....
. DiSalle was elected as mayor of Toledo, and served from 1948 to 1950.
He ran (unsuccessfully) for the Democratic
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...
nomination for the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 1950. In December 1950, President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
named DiSalle director of the Office of Price Stabilization, a Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
-era agency which established and enforced wartime price controls. He resigned on January 23, 1952, to run for the Senate again, and lost in the general election to incumbent Republican Senator John W. Bricker
John W. Bricker
John William Bricker was a United States Senator and the 54th Governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, he was the Republican nominee for Vice President in 1944.-Early life:...
.
DiSalle was the Democratic Nominee for Governor of Ohio in 1956, but was defeated. In 1958 DiSalle had a rematch against his opponent, C. William O'Neill
C. William O'Neill
C. William O'Neill was a Republican politician from Ohio. He was born in Marietta, Ohio. He was the 59th Governor of Ohio. He graduated from both Marietta College and The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law...
. This time DiSalle won. The length of the Governor's term had been increased to four years and DiSalle served from 1959 to 1963. In July 1959 DiSalle signed the bill making "With God, all things are possible
With God, all things are possible
"With God, all things are possible" is the state motto of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is derived from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 26....
" the official motto of the State of Ohio. The motto was taken from the Gospel of Matthew 19:26.
DiSalle was Ohio's favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
in 1960
United States presidential election, 1960
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
. He ran only in his home state, which he won by a comfortable margin of 60.25% against his opponent, Albert S. Porter
Albert S. Porter
Albert S. Porter was an American politician from Ohio.-Early life:Porter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to Albert S. and Lena Edmonds Porter. He moved with his family to Lakewood in 1913, graduated from Lakewood High School in 1922 and from Ohio State University with his B.S...
. This secured him a sixth place in total popular vote in the primaries (behind John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, Pat Brown
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown.-Background:...
, George H. McLain
George H. McLain
George H. McLain was a United States Democratic politician from California.He is best known for running in California's democratic presidential primary in 1960...
, Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
and George Smathers
George Smathers
George Armistead Smathers was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
).
He lost reelection as governor in 1962 after voters disapproved of his support for an end to capital punishment, a tax hike, and a state policy which billed wards of the state for living necessities.
Opposition to capital punishment
DiSalle was a death penaltyCapital punishment in the United States
Capital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
opponent and commuted a number of sentences, despite allowing six executions as Governor. DiSalle personally investigated all cases of people schedulded to be electrocuted
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
and even personally met with some of them. "To demonstrate his faith in rehabilitation, [DiSalle] made it a point to hire convicted murderers to serve on his household staff."
One of DiSalle's primary concerns regarding the death penalty was that poorer defendants did not have the same access to counsel as rich defendants, and therefore would suffer the death penalty disproportionately. He recalled: I found that the men in death row had one thing in common: they were penniless.
After leaving Governorship DiSalle co-founded and served as a chairman of the National Committee to Abolish Federal Death Penalty.
His 1965 book, The Power of Life and Death, discusses this issue and chronicles his difficult experiences as the man charged with making the final decision regarding a sentence commutation. He is quoted in the book Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop an Execution as saying, "No one who has never watched the hands of a clock marking the last minutes of a condemned man's existence, knowing that he alone has the temporary Godlike power to stop the clock, can realize the agony of deciding an appeal for executive clemency."
Later career and death
In 1966, he joined the Washington, D.C., law firm of Chapman, Duff & Paul. The same year, DiSalle also authored the book Second Choice, a history of the U.S. vice presidency.DiSalle led a draft movement
Draft (politics)
In elections in the United States, political drafts are used to encourage or pressure a certain person to enter a political race, by demonstrating a significant groundswell of support for the candidate. A write-in campaign may also be considered a draft campaign.-The movement to draft Dwight D....
for Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
Senator Edward M. Kennedy in 1968, and served as the honorary chairman of Kennedy's 1980 presidential
United States presidential election, 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent...
bid.
DiSalle died in 1981 of a heart attack while vacationing in Pescara, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Namesakes
Disalle has two structures in Ohio named for himNamesake
Namesake is a term used to characterize a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another....
:
- Toledo – Michael DiSalle Government Center housing FederalFederal government of the United StatesThe federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
, StateGovernment of OhioThe government of the state of Ohio comprises three branches executive, legislative, and judicial. Its basic structure is set forth in the Ohio Constitution.-Executive Branch:...
, Lucas County, and City of Toledo offices. - Toledo – Michael V. DiSalle Bridge carrying I-75Interstate 75 in OhioIn the U.S. state of Ohio, Interstate 75 runs from Cincinnati to Toledo by way of Dayton. I-75 enters Ohio concurrent with I-71 from Kentucky on the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River and into the Bluegrass region...
across the Maumee RiverMaumee RiverThe Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before flowing into the...
.
See also
- Election Results, Ohio GovernorElection Results, Ohio GovernorThe voters of the U.S. state of Ohio elect a governor for a four-year term. There is a term limit of two consecutive terms as governor. Bold type indicates victor. Italic type indicates incumbent. Starting in 1978, the nominees for governor and lieutenant governor ran on a joint ticket.-Democratic...
- Election Results, Ohio Governor (Democratic Primaries)
- Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 9th District
Further reading
- DiSalle, Michael V. The Power of Life or Death. New York: Random House, 1965.
- DiSalle, Michael V. Second Choice. Stroud, Gloucester, United Kingdom: Hawthorn Books, 1966.
- Egan, Charles E. "DiSalle to Enter Race For Senate." New York Times. January 24, 1952.
- Loftus, Joseph A. "Key Price Job Goes to Toledo's Mayor." New York Times. December 1, 1950.
- Marcus, Maeva. Truman and the Steel Seizure Case: The Limits of Presidential Power. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977. ISBN 0231041268
- "Michael V. DiSalle, 73, Former Governor of Ohio." New York Times. September 17, 1981.
- Sarat, Austin. Mercy on Trial: What It Means to Stop An Execution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN 0691121400
- Zimmerman, Richard. Call Me Mike: A Political Biography of Michael V. DiSalle. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 2003. ISBN 0873387554