Thomas Gallagher (November 20, 1883 – March 14, 1967) served as

Mayor of Pittsburgh The mayor of Pittsburgh is the chief executive of the government of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Pittsburgh. This article is a listing of past (and present) mayors of Pittsburgh. ...

during the transition year of 1959.

Early life

Gallagher was born in Pittsburgh and started his career as a

glassblower Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

in the industrial plants of the region. He ran successfully as a

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

representative during his

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

days.

Pittsburgh politics

He started his public political career in the Commonwealth Assembly representing Pittsburgh neighborhoods in

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

. In 1933 he came back to the city and was elected City Councilmember. He served in that city legislative post for over twenty years climbing to the leadership position of Council President, one step below Mayor. When

David L. Lawrence David Leo Lawrence (June 18, 1889 – November 21, 1966) was an American politician who served as the 37th governor of Pennsylvania from 1959 to 1963. The first Catholic elected as governor, Lawrence is the only mayor of Pittsburgh to have ...

resigned his post as the city's top executive to assume the governorship of Pennsylvania, Gallagher succeeded him as Mayor. He completed and provided the final push on several of the great Lawrence projects, presiding over the opening of the

Fort Pitt Tunnel The Fort Pitt Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under Mount Washington in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It connects the West End region on the southwest side to the South Shore neighborhood on the northeast side. The adjoining Fort Pitt Bridge on the ...

among other things. He also dealt with a lengthy and contentious

Steelworkers Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...

strike that struck at the heart of the blue collar city. In September 1959 Mayor Gallagher did what only a handful of American mayors have ever done. He welcomed

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

at the

Pittsburgh International Airport Pittsburgh International Airport , formerly Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, is a civil–military international airport in Findlay Township and Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Located about 10 miles (15 km) west of downtown Pittsbur ...

while the Premier was on his goodwill tour of the United States. Legend has it that the mayor had to explain that the onion domes along the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in North Cen ...

valley that Khrushchev saw were not a

Potemkin Village In politics and economics, a Potemkin village (russian: link=no, потёмкинские деревни, translit=potyómkinskiye derévni}) is any construction (literal or figurative) whose sole purpose is to provide an external façade to a co ...

built to impress him but the hard labor and heritage of slavs and Russian immigrants.

Later life

After stepping down as Mayor he was again elected to a term on City Council, the body that he made his biggest political impact during his life. He died on March 14, 1967, and is buried in Pittsburgh's Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery.

Honors

An overlook on scenic Mt. Washington on Pittsburgh's southside is named for Mayor Gallagher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Thomas 1883 births 1967 deaths Burials at Calvary Catholic Cemetery (Pittsburgh) Mayors of Pittsburgh Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Pennsylvania city council members 20th-century American politicians