John Holmes Jackson (March 21, 1871 – December 14, 1944) was an American politician who served as the 24th and 26th

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of Burlington, Vermont. His initial narrow ten vote victory in 1917 against incumbent Albert S. Drew is the closest mayoral election in Burlington's history, although Clarence H. Beecher's 1927 victory was decreased from 89 votes to 8 votes by a Supreme Court ruling in 1929, and wasn't matched until Bernie Sanders won the 1981 mayoral election by ten votes after a recount.

Life

Jackson was born in Montreal, Canada and moved to Vermont with family which later became a prominent Vermont political family which included his brothers,

Horatio Nelson Jackson Horatio Nelson Jackson (March 25, 1872 – January 14, 1955) was an American physician and automobile pioneer. In 1903, he and driving partner Sewall K. Crocker became the first people to drive an automobile across the United States. Earl ...

and Hollister Jackson. Following his graduation from the Philadelphia Dental College he practiced dentistry in

Barre, Vermont Barre, Vermont may refer to: *Barre (city), Vermont *Barre (town), Vermont Barre ( ) is a town in Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 7,923 at the 2020 census, making it the 3rd largest municipality in Washington County ...

until 1896 when he moved to Burlington, Vermont. In 1894 Jackson was put on trial for interfering with an officer while he was beating a criminal and was found not guilty. In 1917, Jackson defeated the incumbent Republican Albert S. Drew in the Burlington mayoral election by ten votes with 1,416 votes to 1,406 votes. In 1919 Jackson won reelection against Harris R. Watkins with 2,149 votes to 1,930 votes. During his tenure in 1918 he handled the

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

outbreak in the city and motorized the fire department and in 1919 he became one of the first Vermonters and politicians to ride in a seaplane. In 1920, Jackson was elected to represent Burlington in the Vermont House of Representatives and he served one term, 1921 to 1923. In 1921 he was elected to a third term after defeating William B. McKillip with 1,941 votes to 1,476 votes. In

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

he was the Democratic nominee for governor, but was defeated in a landslide by Redfield Proctor Jr. with 51,104 votes to 17,059 votes. In 1923 he faced no opposition for reelection as mayor, with both the Democratic and Republican city committees choosing to endorse him. At the

1924 Democratic National Convention The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominat ...

, Jackson was a delegate and on the 39th ballot received one vote for president.

John W. Davis John William Davis (April 13, 1873 – March 24, 1955) was an American politician, diplomat and lawyer. He served under President Woodrow Wilson as the Solicitor General of the United States and the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom ...

won the nomination on the 103rd ballot, and lost the general election to incumbent Republican Calvin Coolidge. On April 1, 1929, Jackson returned to the mayoralty. Shortly after taking office he shut down the city Convention Bureau, which was unable to account for all of the $5,000 of city funds it spent to host the 1928 New England Firemen's Convention. After winning reelection he was nominated for lieutenant governor in 1930; he lost, as did all statewide Democratic candidates during this era, but received two percent more of the vote than Park Pollard, his party's nominee for governor. In the 1930 House election he endorsed former Burlington municipal court judge Joseph A. McNamara in his unsuccessful run. Jackson declined to run for reelection and endorsed former mayor James Edmund Burke. Burke won, and on April 3, 1933 he succeeded Jackson as mayor. In 1936, Jackson was a delegate to the state Democratic convention. He also attended the

national convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year Nationa ...

as a supporter of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, who was renominated by acclimation. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Jackson, James J. Carney, and Phillips M. Bell were appointed by Governor William Wills to serve as Burlington's rationing board.

Personal life

On June 4, 1901, Jackson married Caroline Deming Smalley, the granddaughter of

David Allen Smalley David Allen Smalley (April 6, 1809 – March 10, 1877) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont. Education and career Smalley was born in Middlebury, Vermont, ...

, who served as judge of the

United States District Court for the District of Vermont The United States District Court for the District of Vermont (in case citations, D. Vt.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose jurisdiction is the federal district of Vermont. The court has locations in Brattleboro, ...

and chairman of the Democratic National Committee. They were the parents of a son, Bradley Smalley Jackson. During his career as mayor he appointed Caroline to multiple positions including the library board of commissioners. On December 14, 1944, Jackson died at the Bishop DeGoesbriand Hospital (later merged with the University of Vermont Medical Center). He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Burlington.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, John Holmes 1871 births 1944 deaths Canadian emigrants to the United States American dentists Mayors of Burlington, Vermont Democratic Party members of the Vermont House of Representatives Politicians from Montreal 20th-century American politicians Burials at Lakeview Cemetery (Burlington, Vermont)