The Jerome P. Cavanagh Collection Papers, 1960-1979 334.5 linear feet Accession #379 The papers of Jerome P. Cavanagh were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs between 1970 and 1982 by Mr. Cavanagh and his widow, Kathleen McGauley. They were opened for research in 1999. Jerome P. Cavanagh (1928-1979) was mayor of the city of Detroit from 1962 until 1970. Born in Detroit on June 16, 1928, Cavanagh was one of six children born to Irish immigrant parents. His father was a worker at Ford Motor Company's Rouge plant. He was brought up in Detroit's Grand River-Livernois neighborhood and attended Detroit schools. He graduated from St. Cecelia's parish high school in 1946, from the University of Detroit, where he majored in political science, in 1950 and with an LLB from the University of Detroit Law School in 1954. Cavanagh practiced law in Detroit from 1955 to 1962; he was a member of the law firm of Sullivan, Romanoff, Cavanagh & Nelson. His only governmental service before becoming mayor was as a member of the Wayne County Board of Supervisors and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport Board of Zoning Appeals, but he had for years been active in politics. In 1949 and 1950 he served as chairman of the Wayne County Young Democrats and on several occasions as a delegate to county, state and national Democratic conventions. At age 33 Cavanagh won an upset victory over incumbent Mayor Louis C. Miriani and became one of the country's youngest big-city mayors. He won a second four-year term in 1966 by an overwhelming majority. He was unsuccessful, however, in his 1970 race for the Democratic Senatorial nomination and in a 1974 race for the office of Governor of Michigan. During his eight years as Mayor of Detroit, Cavanagh was nationally recognized as an outstanding urban leader. In 1966 he became the first person ever to serve simultaneously as president of the nation's two leading organizations of municipal officials, the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In 1963 the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce honored Cavanagh as one of the country's ten "Outstanding Young Men." Life magazine named him as one of the 100 most important young men in the country, part of the "take-over" generation. Newsweek named him urban America's "most articulate spokesman" in 1967. Jerome Cavanagh Collection Cavanagh was mayor during the Detroit riot of 1967. He worked to rebuild the city, obtaining federal assistance and positioning Detroit as the first Demonstration City of the federal Model Cities Program he helped formulate. Cavanagh's accomplishments as mayor of Detroit were numerous. They included the definition of urban problems as a national problem. After the riot he established the New Detroit Committee to help reshape the city. He also set up the Mayor's Development Team, an attempt to make municipal government more responsive to the people's needs. Two of his most controversial efforts were the establishment of the Tactical Mobile Units in the Police Department and the implementing of strong measures for a better racial balance in the Police Department. He also installed new management techniques, accelerating the conversion to computer systems, expanded and instituted programs for senior citizens, modernized the water system and updated the Detroit City Airport. He expanded the Cultural Center by implementing federal grants for additions to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Main Library and the Historical Museum as part of a new master plan for a 200-acre cultural complex and he originated numerous summer activities throughout the city, with emphasis on special events to attract people to the downtown area. Cavanagh stimulated an unprecedented convention boom in Detroit by correcting major flaws in the operation of Cobo Hall, the city's convention facility; he expanded the city's tax base by successfully proposing a city income tax; he launched the Urban Corps program of placing college students in special municipal assignments; and he initiated job programs for the hard-core unemployed and for city youth from underprivileged families. His interest in laboring people was evidenced in his official support of the United Farm Workers' national grape boycott. He originated the family community center concept, in a number of Detroit neighborhoods. President John F. Kennedy appointed Cavanagh to The National Advisory Committee on Area Redevelopment in 1962. After the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, Cavanagh was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the National Citizen's Committee for Community Relations. In 1964 he was named to serve on a presidential panel preparing legislative recommendations to meet the needs of metropolitan areas. Other appointments included: Special Advisory Commission to President Johnson on Manpower Problems; Advisory Committee to President Johnson on the Youth Opportunity Program; Public Official Advisory Council for the Office of Economic Opportunity; and Governor's Special Commission on Urban Problems. - 2 - Jerome Cavanagh Collection Cavanagh helped to establish the National Urban Coalition. He served as Chairman of the Citizen's Advisory Committee for Wayne County Community College. He was Crusade Chairman of the Michigan Division of the American Cancer Society for 1972. Cavanagh also served on the Board of Directors of the Sickle Cell Detection and Information Program, on the Board of Directors of the Detroit Chapter of the American Red Cross, and on the Advisory Board of the United Foundation. He was also one of the first ten Americans selected as an Honorary Fellow of the Kennedy Institute at Harvard University Cavanagh married Mary Helen Martin in 1952, and with her had eight children: Mark, Patrick, David, Mary Therese, Christopher, Philip, Jerome Celestin, and Elizabeth Angela. The Cavanaghs separated in 1968, while he was Mayor, then divorced. In 1973, Cavanagh married Kathleen Disser, and there was another child, Katie. He remained close to all his children (many of whom lived with him) until his death. After his term of office as Mayor he worked for the law firm of Cavanagh & Toohey. He taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he then made his home, as Professor of Public Policy. He also was President of Urban Synergistics, Inc., an urban consulting firm which he formed with former Mayor of New York City, Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Cavanagh died at the age of 51 on November 27, 1979. - 3 - Jerome Cavanagh Collection Important Subjects in the Collection: ACT - Active Community Teams Aged and Aging, Commission on Aid to Dependent Children Air Pollution Algiers Motel Incident American Municipal Association AmeriCanada Teleferry Archdiocesan Opportunity Program Arden Plaza Area Development Administration Arts Commission Assessors, Board of Audits of Departments Aviation Commission Board of Commerce Boy's Day Branstatter Report Breakthrough Buildings and Safety Engineering Bus Shelters CADY - Community Action for Detroit Youth Cathedral High School Incident Cavanagh v. Rome and Staebler Cavanagh Speeches Central Business District Association Chamber of Commerce Charter Study Commission Citizens Research Council City Plan Commission Civic Center Commission Civil Disorders Civil Rights Civil Service Cobo Hall Code Enforcement Commission on Community Relations Community Action Programs Community Relations Commissions Community Renewal Conventions Council of Churches Crime Prevention Program - 4 - Jerome Cavanagh Collection Important Subjects (cont'd): DART - Deprived Areas Recreation Team Democratic Party (City, State, and National) Demonstration City Project Detroit Common Council Detroit Concert Band Detroit Educational TV Foundation Detroit House of Correction Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit Medical Center Detroit Public Library Detroit Symphony Orchestra Detroit-Wayne County Groups and Cooperative Efforts Detroit Wholesale Distribution Center Detroit-Windsor Tunnel Detroit Zoo "Detroit's Happening" Economic Club of Detroit Economic Growth Committee Education, Board of Elections Elmwood Park Expressways Federal Grant-in-Aid Programs Fire Department Fluoridation of Water Flood Control Foreign Trade Fort Wayne (Detroit) Freedom Festivals Grape Boycott Greenleigh Report GROW - Grass Roots Organization Workers Gun Control Health Department Historical Commission Hospitals Housing HUD - Department of Housing and Urban Development - 5 - Jerome Cavanagh Collection Important Subjects (cont'd): Income Tax, City and State Industrial and Commercial Development Commission International Village Joint Airport Committee Juvenile Delinquency Keep Detroit Beautiful Committee Kern Block Kerner Commission Labor in Detroit and Michigan Legalized Gambling Manoogian Mansion Maybury Sanatorium MCHRD - Mayor's Committee on Human Resources Development Mayor's Development Team Mayors of Other Cities Mayor's Rehabilitation Committee on Skid Row Problems Medicare Mental Health Care Metropolitan Fund Metropolitan Goals Forum Michigan Gubernatorial Campaign, 1974 Michigan Municipal League Model Cities Program NAACP Retirement System Narcotics Committee National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders National Association of County Officials National Commission on Urban Problems National League of Cities Neighborhood Conservation Neighborhood Legal Services New Bethel Baptist Church Incident New Center Action Council New Detroit Newspaper Strike - 6 - Jerome Cavanagh Collection Important Subjects (cont'd): Olympic Games, City Efforts for Open Housing Parks and Recreation Department Pensions