{"id":1276,"date":"2013-10-23T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T11:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=1276"},"modified":"2014-12-23T18:46:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T18:46:26","slug":"david-lawrence-pittsburgh-visionary-political-genius-and-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/23\/david-lawrence-pittsburgh-visionary-political-genius-and-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"David Lawrence, Pittsburgh visionary, political genius and leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lawrence <\/a>
Lawrence struck the first blow during demolition of old City Hall at Smithfield Street and Oliver Avenue. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Branch <\/a>
Branch Rickey, right, joined Lawrence and Pirate co-owners, from right to left, Tom Johnson and John Galbreath, for home opener at Forbes Field in 1951. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Store <\/a>
Store opening 1954:\u00a0Lawrence, center, with Joe Goldstein, right. (Sun-Telegraph photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Conrad <\/a>
Conrad Hilton, left, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, center, and Pittsburgh Mayor David Lawrence examine the site of the proposed Hilton hotel in Pittsburgh on June 11, 1956. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

David Lawrence, as he himself used to say, \u201cwas born into politics.\u201d In one of his interviews, Lawrence remembered conversations between his father and grandfather, \u201cAs far back as I can remember hearing anything, it would be about politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawrence was born in 1889, in Pittsburgh, only 75 feet from where the old Block house stood.<\/p>\n

He died at 77 after having spent more than 50 years of his life in a field that Aristotle called \u201cthe master art\u201d \u2014 politics. He served as mayor of Pittsburgh from 1946 to 1958 for four consecutive terms and used his political smarts to help mold the city\u2019s famed Renaissance.<\/p>\n

In 1959 he became governor of Pennsylvania. He was the first Roman Catholic to win the office.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, his political road was bumpy, either because of circumstances or existing feuds, which hampered his success prior to 1932, when his political star began to ascend after the Roosevelt sweep in Allegheny County. Lawrence was appointed collector of internal revenue in 1932. In 1934, he was named Democratic state chairman, a post he held until 1940.<\/p>\n

Party affiliation of his partners didn\u2019t matter to Lawrence as long as they were working toward one common goal. When he was mayor, he cooperated with Republican industrial giants such as banker Richard King Mellon in the rebuilding of Pittsburgh. He was a key figure in pushing forward policy change on smoke control, the Parking Authority and the Penn-Lincoln Parkway, and he sought to take some of the burden off real estate.<\/p>\n

“He practically stole the political ball from Republican county leaders by going to Harrisburg and urging support of the \u2018Pittsburgh Package,\u2019 bills necessary for the city\u2019s renewal,” the Post-Gazette reported.<\/p>\n

“[During his years as Pittsburgh\u2019s mayor], Lawrence\u2019s associates found, he appeared happy and relaxed. In the late afternoon, when the city\u2019s business was finished for the day, he would hold a kind of informal session. Trusted lieutenant\u2019s from the city and legislature might drift in to sit around and talk.”<\/p>\n

After Lawrence became Pennsylvania\u2019s chief executive, he backed funds for more school buildings, hospital care for indigents, workmen\u2019s and occupational disease benefits and the anti-skid row bill limiting the concentration of tap rooms.<\/p>\n

At the time of his death, Lawrence was chairman of the President\u2019s Committee on Equal Opportunity in Housing and a confidant of President Johnson, whom he had known from the New Deal days.<\/p>\n

While working in Washington, Lawrence stayed involved in the politics of Pennsylvania. Although he resented being called a Democratic \u201cboss,\u201d many people perceived him that way. Lawrence had clout, trust and the support of the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lawrence was born in 1889, in Pittsburgh, only 75 feet from where the old Block house stood.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesDavid Lawrence, Pittsburgh visionary, political genius and leader<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1066],"tags":[961,977,1229,1035,1037,1195],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_mv3i2vw7W51rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C1035&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2207,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/12\/14\/mayor-barr-and-gov-david-lawrence\/","url_meta":{"origin":1276,"position":0},"title":"Mayor Barr and Gov. 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