The Boston mayoral election of 1951 occurred on Tuesday, November 6, 1951, between

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...

John B. Hynes John Bernard Hynes (September 22, 1897 – January 6, 1970), was an American politician serving as the Mayor of Boston from 1950 to 1960. Career Hynes began his career at city hall in 1920 as a clerk in the health department. He later transferre ...

and former Mayor

James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterized ...

. Hynes was elected to his second term. This was the first Boston mayoral race with a preliminary election, which was held on Tuesday, September 25, 1951. In November 1949, voters had approved changing the structure of future mayoral contests to include a preliminary election, non-partisan in nature, to select two final candidates in advance of each

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, which would remain non-partisan. It also shifted the years in which elections would be held. The first such election had been set for 1951, meaning that Hynes' previous term was only two years in duration. Inaugural exercises were held Monday, January 7, 1952.

Candidates

, Mayor of Boston from 1914 to 1918, 1922 to 1926, 1930 to 1934, 1946 to 1950. Member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

from 1913 to 1914 and from 1943 to 1947.

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

from 1935 to 1937. Member of the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

from 1902–1903. *

, Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts since 1950, Acting Mayor in 1947.

Candidates eliminated in preliminary

*Thomas J. O'Brien, resident of Roxbury. * Joseph F. Timilty,

Boston Police The Boston Police Department (BPD), dating back to 1854, holds the primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. The ...

Commissioner from 1936 to 1943.

Results

General election results by ward

References

Boston mayoral

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Mayoral elections in Boston Non-partisan elections 1950s in Boston {{Massachusetts-election-stub

Candidates

Candidates eliminated in preliminary

Results

General election results by ward

See also

References