Paul Jacob Alexander (March 11, 1904 – May 6, 1969) was a newspaper publisher and

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...

man. Paul Jacob Alexander was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

on March 11, 1904, to Alfred and Lillian (Wooding) Alexander. He graduated from Ballard High School and spent a semester at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. He worked for ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

'' in the 1920s, and purchased the '' Rainier District Times'', a community newspaper in the Rainier Valley, in 1929. He sold the paper in 1965. He ran unsuccessfully for the

in 1952 and 1954. He was elected in 1956 and re-elected in 1960 and 1964. He was 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 ...

, and although he was a strong supporter of

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic News media, media, especially publication, published materials, should be conside ...

, he considered himself a conservative. In 1963, he succeeded in removing an emergency clause from Seattle's proposed

open housing Housing discrimination in the United States refers to the historical and current barriers, policies, and biases that prevent equitable access to housing. Housing discrimination became more pronounced after the abolition of slavery in 1865, typical ...

ordinance that would have allowed it to take effect without a public vote, and in 1964 he ran for re-election as an opponent of open housing. As the chairman of the Council's Utilities Committee, he was attending a reception at the

American Public Power Association The American Public Power Association (APPA) is the service organization for approximately 2,000 U.S community-owned electric utilities that serve more than 49 million Americans. APPA was created in September 1940 to represent the common intere ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

when he died of a heart attack. Liem Tuai was appointed to fill his seat. He lived in Rainier Valley, a block from

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Paul Jacob 1904 births 1969 deaths Seattle City Council members 20th-century American politicians