Stephen Cunningham
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Stephen W. Cunningham (July 29, 1886 – July 28, 1956) was the first graduate manager at the Southern Branch of the University of California, later UCLA, and a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1933 to 1941.


Personal life

Cunningham was born July 29, 1886 in San Bernardino, California, the son of Reuben F. Cunningham of Nova Scotia and Annie B. Magee of Ohio. He was educated in the San Bernardino and
Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
public schools and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1910. He was president of the student body there. Cunningham was married to Frances Lippincott Flint of Los Angeles in 1919. They had three children, John Stephen, Donald Edward and Frances Ann (Mrs. Ann Bauman).Los Angeles Public Library reference file
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Early career

After graduating from Berkeley in 1910, he worked in advertising for three years, then as a broker for five, all in San Francisco. He had attempted to enlist in the Army in World War I but was rejected as underweight. Later he got in under a special classification and served as a sergeant in the Air Service."Stephen Cunningham, Ex-Councilman, Dies," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 28, 1956, page B-1
/ref> From 1921 to 1924 he was secretary for the Southern California Canning Association.


Graduate manager

In 1925, Cunningham was named graduate manager for the Associated Students at the Southern Branch of the University of California, a position that had generally the same duties and powers as that of an association general manager. As such, he accomplished tasks like arranging for the Grizzlies, as the athletics teams were known, to play against the Oregon State Aggies in the basketball pavilion at the University of Southern California and with
Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...
in the
Olympic Auditorium The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium ...
. In 1928 he was secretary of the Coaches' and Managers' Association of the
Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...
. He was credited with bringing
William H. Spaulding William H. Spaulding (May 4, 1880 – October 12, 1966) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. Spaulding coached at UCLA from 1925 to 1938. He had a successful tenure, compiling a 72–51–8 () record. H ...
to the campus as football coach and starting improvements that landed the university in the
Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...
. He oversaw the transition of the Associated Students organization when the university moved from the old Vermont Avenue campus to the new campus in Westwood in 1929. In 1931 a move began at UCLA to bring in a manager who had actually graduated from the Los Angeles campus, with tennis coach William C. Ackerman as the favorite. Cunningham was offered a one-year extension on his contract, but a student protest resulted in the term being extended to two years, with Ackerman to take over at the end of that time. In one of his final acts as graduate manager, Cunningham told a City Council session in December 1932 that UCLA would not approve a council decision to give the
University of Southern California Trojans The USC Trojans are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ' ...
eight preferred dates at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the succeeding ten years while the UCLA Bruins were to receive only five. The matter was eventually settled by agreement.


Career in City Council


Elections

In 1933,
Los Angeles City Council District 3 Los Angeles City Council District 3 is one of the 15 districts of the Los Angeles City Council. It covers some of the westernmost areas of Los Angeles, in the southwestern San Fernando Valley. Its current representative is Councilmember Bob Blum ...
was bounded on the south by
Pico Boulevard Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribei ...
, east by Highland Avenue, north by Hollywood Hills, extending west to the ocean and
Santa Monica Canyon The western border of Santa Monica, California, is the 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch of Santa Monica Bay. On its other sides, the city is bordered by various districts of Los Angeles: the northwestern border is Pacific Palisades, the eastern border ...
." It included the Westside and the UCLA campus. That was the year that Cunningham ran against the incumbent 3rd District councilman James Stuart McKnight and was elected almost 3–1, with 15,698 votes against McKnight's 5,582. In December 1934, McKnight was found guilty of four counts of mailing " defamatory and libelous matter" about Cunningham through the mail and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge aul JohnMcCormick to six months in jail, suspended for two years. Cunningham was reelected in 1935 over the End Poverty in California candidate, James M. Carter; in 1937 and 1939 he had no opponents. In 1941 Republican Cunningham ran for mayor against Democrat
Fletcher Bowron Fletcher Bowron (August 13, 1887 – September 11, 1968) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. He was the 35th mayor of Los Angeles, California, from September 26, 1938, until June 30, 1953. He was at the time the city's longest-serving ...
, and was defeated, 149,195 votes against Bowron's 181,582.


Controversies

In 1934, Cunningham introduced a council resolution that would outlaw the use of concrete pipes in sanitary (street) sewers in favor of
vitrified clay pipe Vitrified clay pipe (VCP) is pipe made from a blend of clay and shale that has been subjected to high temperature to achieve vitrification, which results in a hard, inert ceramic. VCP is commonly used in gravity sewer collection mains because o ...
, noting that the concrete piping disintegrated rapidly from the effects of
sewer gas Sewer gas is a complex, generally obnoxious smelling mixture of toxic and nontoxic gases produced and collected in sewage systems by the decomposition of organic household or industrial wastes, typical components of sewage. Sewer gases may inclu ...
. Cunningham had one time made repeated efforts to rid Westwood Village, just south of the UCLA campus, of bookmakers who were doing business with university students. He told the City Council in 1936:
I reported the matter to the Police Commission. The police went out there, but could find only a punchboard operating, for which an arrest was made. The place is still operating as a bookmaking establishment. Word was brought to me by a friend who got it from someone connected with the bookmaking business, and I was told that I would not live much longer if I kept on monkeying with bookmaking."Councilman Gets Threat," ''Los Angeles Times'', March 6, 1936, page A-1
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In 1937, Introducing a resolution to rewrite Los Angeles's anti-picketing ordinance, Cunningham said that
When men like
Harry Bridges Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and W ...
and Dave Beck come into Los Angeles and attempt by show of force to intimidate workers and force them to join some organization or not work, then we must . . . do what we can to see that men can go about their normal pursuits in a peaceful way without interference."Curb Sought on Picketing," ''Los Angeles Times,'' February 25, 1937, page 6
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Council Member Parley Parker Christensen lauded Bridges and Beck and a recent seamen's strike as a "magnificent demonstration" and questioned Cunningham's patriotism, to which the latter replied that he would challenge his patriotism against that of Christensen "to any proof." In 1940, when he was considered an authority on street and highway development, Cunningham was instrumental in lobbying Governor Culbert Olson for approval of a Hollywood Express Highway from downtown. Cunningham succeeded in killing a Federally subsidized public housing program in Sawtelle in 1940, by a 9–6 vote in the City Council. A recording device was found in 1941 at the Biltmore Apartments at 330 South Grand Avenue, with wiring leading to Cunningham's mayoralty campaign headquarters at 1031 South Broadway. A "complete log" of Cunningham's telephone calls was left on a table. Police investigation followed.


Later life

After he left the City Council, Cunningham continued to be "very well known at City Hall" as the head of Stephen W. Cunningham and Associates, zoning consultants and land use specialists, with offices at 3233 Wilshire Boulevard. In 1948 he was on a Los Angeles committee against " featherbedding" in the railroad industry, a practice requiring extra employees on freight trains."Civic Group Set Up to Get Anti-Featherbedding Votes," ''Los Angeles Times,'' October 10, 1948, page A-7
/ref> He died in his home in Brentwood on July 28, 1956, the day before his 70th birthday and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Riverside, California.


References

---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Steve Los Angeles City Council members California Republicans 1886 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American politicians People from San Bernardino, California People from Brentwood, Los Angeles