John Palmer Gaillard Jr. (April 4, 1920 – July 28, 2006) was an American politician who was mayor of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

from 1959 to 1975. The Gaillard Center is named after him. During his tenure, Gaillard significantly expanded the size of Charleston by annexing nearby neighborhoods.

Early life and mayorship

John Gaillard was born on Easter Sunday, April 4, 1920, in Charleston to J. Palmer Gaillard and Eleanor Lucas Gaillard. After his education, he enlisted in the United States Navy, two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He served as a pilot for four years and was later discharged as a lieutenant in November 1945. Upon his return to Charleston, he founded the Seaboard Lumber & Supply Co. in 1946 and In 1951 he was elected to the Charleston City Council. He was re-elected in 1955 and served until 1959 when he was elected the Mayor of Charleston. Gaillard was re-elected three times and served until 1975. During his administration, the city expanded its boundaries for the first time since 1849, more than doubling in size during his time in office by taking control of land in

West Ashley West Ashley, or more formally, west of the Ashley, is one of the six distinct areas of the city proper of Charleston, South Carolina. As of July 2022, its estimated population was 83,996. Its name is derived from the fact that the land is west ...

. In 1962, Gaillard took part in local efforts to change I-95's planned route further away from

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and closer to Charleston. Gaillard also endorsed St. Julian Devine for a seat on the city council which Devine won, making him the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

to hold a seat on the council since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

Later life

In 1975, he was named Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Reserve Affairs by President Gerald Ford. He announced his resignation as mayor on April 24, 1975, upon his nomination to the federal post by Sen. Strom Thurmond; at his final City Council meeting, the civic auditorium was renamed in his honor as the Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. In 1977, Gaillard returned to Charleston and assumed the vice presidency of contracting firm Ruscon Corporation, a position he retained until his retirement in 1985. He died on July 28, 2006, in Charleston, South Carolina, when he accidentally pulled his car out in front of an on-coming truck; the truck driver was not charged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaillard, J. Palmer 1920 births 2006 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in South Carolina Mayors of Charleston, South Carolina Road incident deaths in South Carolina South Carolina city council members South Carolina Democrats United States Navy pilots of World War II