George Albee Hibbard (October 27, 1864 – May 29, 1910) was an American

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as the

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- ...

from 1908 to 1910.

Early years

Hibbard was born in Boston in 1864, graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1880, and passed the bar in 1885.

Career

Hibbard became

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of Boston in 1899. In the December 1907 mayoral election, Hibbard ran as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

against incumbent and Democratic candidate

John F. Fitzgerald John Francis "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald (February 11, 1863 – October 2, 1950) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served as a U.S. Representative and Mayor of Boston. He also made unsuccessful runs for the United ...

. Hibbard defeated Fitzgerald, 38,112 votes to 35,935; a third candidate, John Coulthurst, a Democrat running as the

Independence League The Independence Party, established as the Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party sponsored by newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst in 1906. The organization was the successor to the Municip ...

candidate, had 15,811 votes. Hibbard served as mayor from January 1908 to February 1910. Historian Peter Jones argues that Hibbard was not a true reformer. His triumph in the mayoral election was a result of Fitzgerald's blunders. It was a transient reaction to the Democratic Party's high spending. Hibbard, during his two years as mayor, made drastic cuts, releasing nearly a thousand city workers, halving street maintenance expenses, and decreasing the city's debt. He also established a permanent Finance Committee appointed by the governor to act as a counterweight to the local Democrats. Nonetheless, his actions earned him numerous enemies, and the reform coalition refused to endorse him for reelection. Despite this, the ailing mayor ran anyway, spurred on by Fitzgerald who wanted to divide the vote. In the January 1910 election, out of the 95,000 votes cast, Fitzgerald won with 47,177, reformer James Storrow received 45,775, and Hibbard obtained a mere 1,614 votes.Melvin G. Holli, and Peter d'A. Jones, eds. ''Biographical dictionary of American mayors, 1820-1980'' ( Greenwood Press, 1981) p. 162. Four months later Hibbard died in his home of tuberculosis.

References

External links

Hibbard election records
at ourcampaigns.com 1864 births 1910 deaths Mayors of Boston 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Massachusetts Republicans 19th-century American politicians Harvard University alumni Politicians from Dorchester, Massachusetts Tuberculosis deaths in Massachusetts {{Boston-stub

Early years

Career

See also

References

External links