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Francis J. Ahern
Francis J. Ahern (1899–1958) was the San Francisco Police Chief from January 1956 to September 1958. Appointed by mayor George Christopher's police commission, Ahern, with the rank of patrolman, was elevated to chief over every captain, lieutenant and sergeant on the force. Ahern's rank was deceptive, as he had been passed over for promotion time and time again because, it was said, he wouldn't go along with corrupt police leadership. He was actually head of both the homicide and rackets details with the title of Inspector, which was not a civil service title. He also spent time as an investigator for Estes Kefauver's anti-crime Kefauver hearings. Christopher was intent on cleaning up the police force and had given an ultimatum to the previous mayor's chief, George Healy. After an embarrassing gambling raid by federal agents next door to the old Hall of Justice on Kearney Street of which Healy claimed no prior knowledge, the newly appointed police commission accepted Healy's r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Christopher (mayor)
George Christopher (born George Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a Greek-American politician who served as the 34th mayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1964. He is the most recent Republican to be elected mayor of San Francisco. Early years Born George Christopheles in Arcadia, Greece, the son of James and Mary (née Koines) Christopheles. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1910 and settled in San Francisco's South of Market Street neighborhood, then known as "Greektown", when Christopher was two years old. Christopher left school at the age of fourteen when his father James became seriously ill, and he became sole support of his family. He sold newspapers and became a copy boy at the ''San Francisco Examiner''. While working, he also attended night classes at Golden Gate College and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting. After becoming a citizen of the United States in 1930, Christopheles changed his last name to Christopher. In 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver (; July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his death in 1963. After leading a much-publicized investigation into organized crime in the early 1950s, he twice sought his party's nomination for President of the United States. In 1956, he was selected by the Democratic National Convention to be the running mate of presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson. He still held his U.S. Senate seat after the Stevenson–Kefauver ticket lost to the Eisenhower–Nixon ticket. Kefauver was named chair of the U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee in 1957 and served as its chairman until his death. Early life Carey Estes Kefauver was born in Madisonville, Tennessee, the son of local hardware merchant Robert Cooke Kefauver and his wife Phredonia Bradford Estes. Kefauver was introduced to pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kefauver Hearings
The United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce was a special committee of the United States Senate which existed from 1950 to 1951 and which investigated organized crime which crossed state borders in the United States. The committee became popularly known as the Kefauver Committee because of its chairman, Senator Estes Kefauver.Friedman, ''The Secret Histories: Hidden Truths That Challenged the Past and Changed the World,'' 2005, p. 151. The term ''capo di tutti capi'' was introduced to the U.S. public by the Kefauver Commission.De Stefano, ''An Offer We Can't Refuse'', p. 41 Genesis of the committee Organized crime was the subject of a large number of widely read articles in several major newspapers and magazines in 1949.Thompson, ''Gambling in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Issues, and Society,'' 2001, p. 207. Several local "crime commissions" in major cities and states had also uncovered extensive corruption of the political process ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Healy
George Peter Alexander Healy (July 15, 1813 – June 24, 1894) was an American portrait painter. He was one of the most prolific and popular painters of his day, and his sitters included many of the eminent personages of his time. Born in Boston, he studied in Europe, and over his lifetime had studios in Paris and Chicago. Biography Healy was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the eldest of five children of an Irish captain in the merchant marine. Having been left fatherless at a young age, Healy helped to support his mother. At sixteen years of age he began drawing, and at developed an ambition to be an artist. Jane Stuart, daughter of Gilbert Stuart, aided him, loaning him a Guido's "Ecce Homo", which he copied in color and sold to a country priest. Later, she introduced him to Thomas Sully, by whose advice Healy profited, and gratefully repaid Sully in the days of the latter's adversity. At eighteen, Healy began painting portraits, and was soon very successful. In 1834 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hall Of Justice (San Francisco)
The Thomas J. Cahill Hall of Justice in San Francisco is the third building to serve as the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco County Superior Court. It was constructed between 1958 and 1960, in the block bounded by Sixth, Seventh, and Bryant. History The first Hall of Justice (1900–06) was opposite Portsmouth Square, at the southeast corner of Kearny and Washington, occupying a building originally built in 1851 as the Jenny Lind Theatre and purchased by the city in 1852 for use as the City Hall. While a new City Hall was being constructed between 1872 and 1899 at Civic Center, the old Jenny Lind building was rebuilt as the Hall of Justice; the cornerstone was laid on December 19, 1896. By 1898, the editors of the ''San Francisco Call'' derided the slow pace of work as "The Haul of Justice", concluding the contractor had underbid the job and was intent on delaying the completion by ordering numerous changes; a grand jury would later ask Mayor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kearney Street
Kearny Street () in San Francisco, California runs north from Market Street to The Embarcadero. Toward its south end, it separates the Financial District from the Union Square and Chinatown districts. Further north, it passes over Telegraph Hill, interrupted by a gap near Coit Tower. History Kearny Street was originally named "La Calle de la Fundacion" by the Spanish, meaning "street of the founding". The origin of the present name, Kearny Street, is generally assumed to be Stephen Watts Kearny, the first military governor of California under U.S. rule. Another possible namesake is General Philip Kearny. It is sometimes erroneously assumed to be named after the (differently spelled) labor leader Denis Kearney, known for his racist anti-Chinese agitation. At Kearny and Clay was the lower end of the first cable car line in America, launched by Andrew S. Hallidie on August 2, 1873, climbing five blocks up Clay Street hill toward Nob Hill. During the early 20th century, " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seals Stadium
Seals Stadium was a minor league baseball stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Francisco, California; it later became the first home of the major league San Francisco Giants. Opened in the Mission District in 1931, Seals Stadium was the longtime home of the San Francisco Seals (1931–57) of the Pacific Coast League. The PCL's Mission Reds (1931–37) shared the ballpark with the Seals for the first seven years, then moved to Los Angeles and became the Hollywood Stars. In 1958, Seals Stadium became a temporary home for the Giants for their first two seasons in San Francisco while Candlestick Park was under construction. Less than three decades old, Seals Stadium was demolished in late 1959. Seals Stadium history Early years Seals Stadium opened on April 7, 1931 after a construction cost of $1.25 million. It was of concrete and steel construction and was named after its key tenant, the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals and was uniquely desig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1899 Births
Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a customs office in Puerto Alonso, leading to the Brazilian settlers there to declare the Republic of Acre in a revolt against Bolivian authorities. **The first part of the Jakarta Kota–Anyer Kidul railway on the island of Java is opened between Batavia Zuid ( Jakarta Kota) and Tangerang. * January 3 – Hungarian Prime Minister Dezső Bánffy fights an inconclusive duel with his bitter enemy in parliament, Horánszky Nándor. * January 4 – **U.S. President William McKinley's declaration of December 21, 1898, proclaiming a policy of benevolent assimilation of the Philippines as a United States territory, is announced in Manila by the U.S. commander, General Elwell Otis, and angers independence activists who had fought against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1958 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles. ** Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit, and burns up. * January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol. * January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the " Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C. * January 31 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit. February * February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite, to form the United Arab Republic. * February 6 – Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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