George Christopher (born George Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a
Greek-American
Greek Americans ( el, Ελληνοαμερικανοί ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. The lowest estimate is that 1.2 million Americans are of Greek descent while the highest es ...
politician who served as the 34th
mayor of San Francisco
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by ...
from 1956 to 1964. He is the most recent
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 ...
to be elected mayor of San Francisco.
Early years
Born George Christopheles in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, 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 1935, he married Tula Sarantitis.
Career
After college, Christopher worked for numerous small firms keeping their accounts and eventually bought out a small dairy on Fillmore Street, which became the Christopher Dairy.
Berkeley Farms
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
*George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer t ...
bought the business in 1970.
San Francisco City Government
Regarded as a
moderate Republican,
Christopher began his political career in 1945 when he was elected to the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors; on re-election, he became board president. Christopher ran for mayor in 1951 and lost by fewer than 3,000 votes to incumbent mayor
Elmer Robinson
Elmer Edwin "Rob-Rob" Robinson (October 3, 1894 – June 9, 1982) was the 33rd mayor of San Francisco, California. A Republican, he served as San Francisco's mayor from January 1948 until January 1956.
Robinson was born in the Richmond ...
. In November 1955, Christopher again sought the post of mayor. He won in a landslide over Democrat George Reilly.
During his administration, San Francisco hosted the
1956 Republican National Convention
The 1956 Republican National Convention was held by the Republican Party of the United States at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, from August 20 to August 23, 1956. U.S. Senator William F. Knowland was temporary chairman and forme ...
at the
Cow Palace
The Cow Palace (originally the California State Livestock Pavilion) is an indoor arena located in Daly City, California, situated on the city's northern border with neighboring San Francisco. Because the border passes through the property, a por ...
, in which the party renominated incumbent president
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
as its candidate in the upcoming
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
. Christopher was re-elected in
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
for a second term.
Christopher was instrumental in bringing the New York Giants baseball team to San Francisco in 1958 (where they became the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
) and in securing the funding to build
Candlestick Park
Candlestick Park was an outdoor stadium on the West Coast of the United States, located in San Francisco's Bayview Heights area. The stadium was originally the home of Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants, who played there from 1960 ...
on the abandoned lands of Sunset Scavenger on Candlestick Point; the ballpark opened for the Giants 1960 season. His administration has been credited with the building of the Brooks Hall, twelve new schools, seventeen firehouses, six public swimming pools, the five-story Fifth and Mission and the underground Civic Center garages.
Christopher was known for his strong stand on civil rights. He gained worldwide headlines offering his home to
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...
after it was reported that a Forest Hill realtor had refused to sell to Mays. Christopher also lobbied and succeeded in opening mental health and alcohol treatment centers under city funding.
Christopher presided over the redevelopment of major portions of city and private lands, labeled
slums
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily in ...
, some not without controversy;
Embarcadero Center
Embarcadero Center is a commercial complex of five office towers, two hotels, a shopping center with more than 125 stores, bars, and restaurants, and a fitness center on three levels located in San Francisco, California. There is an outdoor ice sk ...
and Golden Gateway, displacing the old wholesale produce market from the filled land southeast of
Telegraph Hill A telegraph hill is a hill or other natural elevation that is chosen as part of an optical telegraph system.
Telegraph Hill may also refer to:
England
* A high point in the Haldon Hills, Devon
* Telegraph Hill, Dorset, a hill in the Dorset Down ...
to the Alemany location where it remains,
Japantown
is a common name for Japanese communities in cities and towns outside Japan. Alternatively, a Japantown may be called J-town, Little Tokyo or , the first two being common names for Japantown, San Francisco, Japantown, San Jose and Little ...
and the
Fillmore urban renewal that displaced the African-American and the remnants of the Jewish Community for concrete high rises, the new
Hall of Justice and the opening of the
Embarcadero Freeway
Embarcadero, the Spanish word for wharf, may also refer specifically to:
Places
* Embarcadero (Oakland), California
* Embarcadero (San Diego), California
** Embarcadero Circle, waterfront re-development project in San Diego
* Embarcadero (San F ...
, which blocked the
Embarcadero and
Ferry Building from the city, spawning the first
Freeway Revolt
Highway revolts (also freeway revolts, expressway revolts, or road protests) are organized protests against the planning or construction of highways, freeways, expressways, and other civil engineering projects that favor vehicles.
Many freeway r ...
.
In Christopher's second term, the
House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities held hearings in the City Hall supervisor's chambers. A large group of students and active citizens were fire-hosed down the marble steps inside City Hall rotunda by the
San Francisco Police Department when they protested their exclusion from admission to committee hearings. Christopher later told the Federal Government they were no longer welcome in city buildings, but he sided with the committee and spoke for the propaganda newsreel-style film made by the committee about the event titled, ''Operation Abolition'',
that blamed Communists for the so-called City Hall riot of May 13, 1960. Christopher was criticized for endorsing the film while saying that "at least 90% of the students were not organized by the Communists."
Other elections
Christopher's various bids for higher office failed. In 1958, Christopher was defeated in the Republican primary for
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
by Governor
Goodwin Knight. In 1962, when
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
ran for governor, Christopher ran for
lieutenant governor, losing to incumbent Democrat
Glenn M. Anderson. He lost the June 8, 1966, Republican primary for
Governor of California to motion picture and television actor (and future
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
icon)
Ronald Reagan, who won with 77 percent of the vote.
Historian Geoffrey Kabaservice points out that a
Drew Pearson column that highlighted a 1940 arrest of Christopher for buying and selling underpriced milk, a story fed to Pearson by the staff of incumbent governor
Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...
, and Christopher's underwhelming response to that column contributed to the loss.
References
Further reading
*
*
Oral history interviewon California politics, At the
Bancroft Library, University of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christopher, George
1907 births
2000 deaths
California Republicans
Mayors of San Francisco
Greek emigrants to the United States
American politicians of Greek descent
San Francisco Board of Supervisors members
Golden Gate University alumni
20th-century American politicians
People from North Kynouria
Heald College alumni