Frank Whitehead (American politician)

Caulie Frank Whitehead (July 2, 1892 – May 16, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 1945 to 1949. He was a member of the Democratic Party.

C. Frank Whitehead
36th Mayor of Jacksonville
In office
1945–1949
Preceded byJohn T. Alsop, Jr.
Succeeded byW. Haydon Burns
Personal details
Born(1892-07-02)July 2, 1892
Athens, Georgia, US
DiedMay 16, 1976(1976-05-16) (aged 83)
Jacksonville, Florida, US
Political partyDemocratic

History

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Whitehead ran for Mayor of Jacksonville in 1945. He defeated the incumbent John T. Alsop, Jr., who had been mayor for eighteen years from 1923 to 1937 and from 1941 to 1945, in the Democratic primary; as there was no general election, Whitehead became mayor.[1] Among his initiatives was a plan to ease the city's growing traffic problems by building a new bridge out of pontoons over the St. Johns River. This plan never came to fruition, but influenced the later construction of the conventional Fuller Warren Bridge.[2] Whitehead was defeated in the 1949 mayoral race by the upstart W. Haydon Burns, who successfully courted African-American voters to overcome Whitehead.[3] In Whitehead's later years he owned and ran a room-and-boarding house in Jacksonville.[4] He died in 1976.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Voters Approve Loan On Airport". The Miami News. Associated Press. June 20, 1945. Archived from the original on January 25, 2020. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  2. ^ "Floating some ideas about Wonderwood". The Florida Times-Union. May 17, 1997. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  3. ^ Bartley, Abel A. (2000). Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-1970. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 59–60. ISBN 0-313-31035-1. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  4. ^ Hopkins, Bruce (28 September 2012). "Life Story: About Bruce Hopkins". Bruce's Food and More Blog. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  5. ^ "Supermarket Checkout, Jacksonville, and also Mayor Whitehead". www.jaxhistory.com. Archived from the original on 2010-12-05.
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Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Jacksonville
1945–1949
Succeeded by