William J. Green, III
Encyclopedia
William Joseph Green, III (born June 24, 1938) is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
. Green also served as the 94th Mayor of Philadelphia.
, the dean of US congressmen from Philadelphia at his death, was among the most powerful Democratic members of the U. S. House. This upbringing gave Green and his siblings extraordinary access to top Democratic Party leaders. The Harry Truman Presidential Library website, for instance, contains a picture of the Green family meeting with Harry Truman in the White House. And the records of the administration of President John F. Kennedy
frequently mention the senior Green as well.
He attended St. Joseph’s Prep School and received his bachelor's degree from Saint Joseph's University
in 1960. Green also graduated from Villanova Law School
.
by special election on April 28, 1964, to the Eighty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father. He was reelected to six successive Congresses and served until January 3, 1977.
Upon his election to Congress, Green and his wife Pat moved to Frankford. As a congressman in Lyndon B. Johnson
's "Great Society
" era, Green assumed leadership on issues such as meat inspection, rat control, and tax reform and led the charge in Congress to eliminate the oil depletion allowance. He voted for the Voting Rights Act
of 1965, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, and the Medicare
Act of 1965, other pieces of President Johnson's sweeping program of domestic reform, and was one of the original co-sponsors of the Equal Rights Amendment
. He had a 100 percent rating from the AFL-CIO
, the NAACP, and the Americans for Democratic Action
for his fourteen years in Congress.
Green served from December, 1967, through December, 1969, in his father's old post as Democratic city chairman but resigned after the Democratic City Committee refused to adopt his reform plan following a Republican
sweep led by District Attorney
and future U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Philadelphia in 1971, losing to former Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo
's "law and order
" candidacy. In the 1972 congressional redistricting
, Green's opponents tried to gerrymander him out of his seat, placing him in the same district as Congressman James Byrne
, in office since 1952. The newly merged district had voted heavily for Rizzo in the mayoral election and had been represented mainly by Byrne, for whom Rizzo campaigned actively. The grass-roots organization Green put together for his mayoral campaign, however, enabled him to defeat Byrne decisively. He was then easily re-elected in the overwhelmingly Democratic year of 1974.
Appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee in December, 1967, Green faced a long wait to the top under the seniority system. As it turned out, not until mid-1994 would he have become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and the Republicans gained a majority in the House that year.
, the Senate Republican leader, announced his retirement after being tarred in a campaign finance scandal and facing pressure from fellow Republicans Arlen Specter
and John Heinz
, who each coveted his seat. Green did not seek re-election to the House, and instead sought Scott's Senate seat.
Backed by Governor Milton Shapp, Green won the Democratic nomination for the seat, defeating State Senator
Jeanette Reibman
of Northampton County. Green's fundraising skills, however, proved to be no match for the millions available to Heinz from his personal fortune after he defeated Arlen Specter in the Republican Senate primary. Heinz blasted Green for voting against defense budgets Green considered too expensive, implying that Green was weak on U. S. defense. Political cartoons of the time show Heinz pouring money from a giant ketchup bottle over Green's head. Even so, and with Carter at the top of the Democratic ticket, Heinz barely reversed the Democratic tide and defeated Green, 52-48 percent.
After his defeat for the Senate, Green won admission to the Pennsylvania bar and moved out of his district to the Germantown
section of Philadelphia, into the home of his mother-in-law, Margaret Sharpless Kirk, with his wife and children. Soon he had moved to Chestnut Hill
and begun practicing law with the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen.
but won the Democratic nomination for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1979, defeating runner-up Charles Bowser, former deputy mayor. Other candidates for the nomination, former City Controller William Klenk and former Commerce Director Al Gaudiosi, withdrew near the end of the primary.
In the general election
, Green defeated Republican
David Marston
, a former United States Attorney
, and former City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, a future U.S. Congressman and the Consumer Party nominee, to win election as mayor.
As mayor, Green was often forced by circumstances to make difficult and unpopular choices. He was required to balance a city budget still at a record high $285 million deficit inherited from Mayor Rizzo, the largest ever inherited by an incoming Philadelphia mayor. The resulting disputes with municipal labor unions, open battles with City Council, quiet disputes with campaign contributors, and an adversarial relationship with the mass media sapped his morale. "Reporters are the type of people who tore the wings off flies when they were young," he complained at the time. His efforts to balance the budget were successful, however, and for the first time in years new businesses were choosing to relocate to Philadelphia, which won a national marketing award during the Green administration. In a city divided by race, Green appointed the first African-American managing director, future Mayor Wilson Goode, aggressively supported Joseph Coleman as the first African-American president of City Council, and appointed the first African-American superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools. Another member of his cabinet was the city's first female city solicitor. The Green administration is also remembered for having brought young talent into the City government: Chaka Fattah
received his first government job in Green's Commerce Department, one headed by Dick Doran
; Ed Deseve, Green's finance director, went on to head the U. S. Office of Management and the Budget in the administration of President Bill Clinton
; Bill Marrazo, a Green city commissioner, is now president of WHYY
, Philadelphia's principal public television station.
Green decided not to seek re-election during the Democratic primary and concentrated on his family when his wife Patricia became pregnant. Pat Green was 40 and Green feared for her health and the health of his unborn child if she faced the stress of a political campaign during the pregnancy. After his youngest child, Maura Elizabeth Green, was born healthy near the end of his term, Green joked, "I am the winner" of the 1983 mayoral contest.
Material in Mayor Green's city archives files include correspondence, reports, and other materials relating to the various city departments, boards, commissions, and other city offices. Information is also available on the General Business Tax, the Mayor's Tax Committee, the Mayor's Scholarship Program of 1979-1980, cable TV, Century IV celebration, CETA, the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, energy, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Strike of 1981, the Educational Nomination Panel of 1981-1982, Mayor's and Cabinet members' schedules for 1980–1982, Conversation Hall renovations which were started by Green, council legislation, Freedom Festival, among many other topics.
section of Philadelphia, and passed up opportunities to run for the U.S. Senate in 1986 and 1991. He established himself as a Washington, D.C. lobbyist and purchased a home in suburban Virginia
.
In the late 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2000s, Green pursued a successful career as vice president of government relations for MacAndrews & Forbes, a large holding company that includes Revlon. Green was not involved when President Clinton sought to procure a job with Revlon for Monica Lewinsky
through Revlon board member Vernon Jordan.
In 2003, Green retired from MacAndrews & Forbes and returned with his wife to Philadelphia, where he has since kept a low political profile. Some of his associates while he was mayor have dominated Republican mayoral politics in the decades since he has left office, but none has won election in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
His son, William J. "Bill" Green, IV, was elected to Philadelphia City Council
in 2007.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Green also served as the 94th Mayor of Philadelphia.
Youth
Green grew up in the Kensington neighborhood's 33rd Ward with his brothers and sisters Mary, Anne, Michael, Dennis and Patrick. His father, William Green, Jr.William J. Green, Jr.
William Joseph Green, Jr. was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.William J. Green was born in Philadelphia, PA. He graduated from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, and attended St. Joseph’s College, Philadelphia, PA. He was engaged in business as an...
, the dean of US congressmen from Philadelphia at his death, was among the most powerful Democratic members of the U. S. House. This upbringing gave Green and his siblings extraordinary access to top Democratic Party leaders. The Harry Truman Presidential Library website, for instance, contains a picture of the Green family meeting with Harry Truman in the White House. And the records of the administration of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
frequently mention the senior Green as well.
He attended St. Joseph’s Prep School and received his bachelor's degree from Saint Joseph's University
Saint Joseph's University
Saint Joseph's University is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic Jesuit university located partially in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia and partially in Lower Merion Township and located in the Pennsylvania Main Line, Pennsylvania, United States.The school was founded in 1851 as Saint...
in 1960. Green also graduated from Villanova Law School
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
.
Congressional career
At the age of 25, Green was elected as a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
by special election on April 28, 1964, to the Eighty-eighth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father. He was reelected to six successive Congresses and served until January 3, 1977.
Upon his election to Congress, Green and his wife Pat moved to Frankford. As a congressman in Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
's "Great Society
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
" era, Green assumed leadership on issues such as meat inspection, rat control, and tax reform and led the charge in Congress to eliminate the oil depletion allowance. He voted for the Voting Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S....
of 1965, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, and the Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
Act of 1965, other pieces of President Johnson's sweeping program of domestic reform, and was one of the original co-sponsors of the Equal Rights Amendment
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...
. He had a 100 percent rating from the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
, the NAACP, and the Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action is an American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA works for social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research and supporting progressive candidates.-History:...
for his fourteen years in Congress.
Green served from December, 1967, through December, 1969, in his father's old post as Democratic city chairman but resigned after the Democratic City Committee refused to adopt his reform plan following a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
sweep led by District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
and future U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for mayor of Philadelphia in 1971, losing to former Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo
Frank Rizzo
Francis Lazarro "Frank" Rizzo, Sr. was an American police officer and politician. He served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from January 1972 to January 1980; he was Police Commissioner for four years prior to that.-Police Commissioner:Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police...
's "law and order
Law and order (politics)
In politics, law and order refers to demands for a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent and property crime, through harsher criminal penalties...
" candidacy. In the 1972 congressional redistricting
Redistricting
Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...
, Green's opponents tried to gerrymander him out of his seat, placing him in the same district as Congressman James Byrne
James A. Byrne
James Aloysius Byrne was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Jim Byrne was born in Philadelphia, PA. He attended St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia. He was engaged in business as a mortician from 1937 to 1950. He was the county registrar for the Bureau...
, in office since 1952. The newly merged district had voted heavily for Rizzo in the mayoral election and had been represented mainly by Byrne, for whom Rizzo campaigned actively. The grass-roots organization Green put together for his mayoral campaign, however, enabled him to defeat Byrne decisively. He was then easily re-elected in the overwhelmingly Democratic year of 1974.
Appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee in December, 1967, Green faced a long wait to the top under the seniority system. As it turned out, not until mid-1994 would he have become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and the Republicans gained a majority in the House that year.
Senate campaign
In 1976, U.S. Senator Hugh ScottHugh Scott
Hugh Doggett Scott, Jr. was a politician from Pennsylvania who served in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and who also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee.- Early life :He was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on November 11, 1900...
, the Senate Republican leader, announced his retirement after being tarred in a campaign finance scandal and facing pressure from fellow Republicans Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...
and John Heinz
H. John Heinz III
Henry John Heinz III was an American politician from Pennsylvania, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate .-Early life:...
, who each coveted his seat. Green did not seek re-election to the House, and instead sought Scott's Senate seat.
Backed by Governor Milton Shapp, Green won the Democratic nomination for the seat, defeating State Senator
Pennsylvania State Senate
The Pennsylvania State Senate has been meeting since 1791. It is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such...
Jeanette Reibman
Jeanette Reibman
Jeanette F. Reibman is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate. She also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.-References:http://www.lafayette.edu/news.php/view/8440...
of Northampton County. Green's fundraising skills, however, proved to be no match for the millions available to Heinz from his personal fortune after he defeated Arlen Specter in the Republican Senate primary. Heinz blasted Green for voting against defense budgets Green considered too expensive, implying that Green was weak on U. S. defense. Political cartoons of the time show Heinz pouring money from a giant ketchup bottle over Green's head. Even so, and with Carter at the top of the Democratic ticket, Heinz barely reversed the Democratic tide and defeated Green, 52-48 percent.
After his defeat for the Senate, Green won admission to the Pennsylvania bar and moved out of his district to the Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
section of Philadelphia, into the home of his mother-in-law, Margaret Sharpless Kirk, with his wife and children. Soon he had moved to Chestnut Hill
Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...
and begun practicing law with the Philadelphia law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen.
As mayor
He declined to run in the 1978 gubernatorial electionPennsylvania gubernatorial election, 1978
The Pennsylvania gubernational election of 1978 was held on November 7, 1978 between Republican Dick Thornburgh and Democrat Pete Flaherty.The race began with a primary that slated an impressive field of candidates. Flaherty, the Mayor of Pittsburgh, bested State Auditor General Bob Casey, who had...
but won the Democratic nomination for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1979, defeating runner-up Charles Bowser, former deputy mayor. Other candidates for the nomination, former City Controller William Klenk and former Commerce Director Al Gaudiosi, withdrew near the end of the primary.
In the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, Green defeated Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
David Marston
David W. Marston
David Weese "Dave" Marston, Sr. , is a Philadelphia lawyer and author removed from his position as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1978 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Marston was an appointee of Carter's predecessor, Gerald R. Ford, Jr...
, a former United States Attorney
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
, and former City Councilman Lucien Blackwell, a future U.S. Congressman and the Consumer Party nominee, to win election as mayor.
As mayor, Green was often forced by circumstances to make difficult and unpopular choices. He was required to balance a city budget still at a record high $285 million deficit inherited from Mayor Rizzo, the largest ever inherited by an incoming Philadelphia mayor. The resulting disputes with municipal labor unions, open battles with City Council, quiet disputes with campaign contributors, and an adversarial relationship with the mass media sapped his morale. "Reporters are the type of people who tore the wings off flies when they were young," he complained at the time. His efforts to balance the budget were successful, however, and for the first time in years new businesses were choosing to relocate to Philadelphia, which won a national marketing award during the Green administration. In a city divided by race, Green appointed the first African-American managing director, future Mayor Wilson Goode, aggressively supported Joseph Coleman as the first African-American president of City Council, and appointed the first African-American superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools. Another member of his cabinet was the city's first female city solicitor. The Green administration is also remembered for having brought young talent into the City government: Chaka Fattah
Chaka Fattah
Chaka Fattah is the U.S. representative for , serving since 1995. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
received his first government job in Green's Commerce Department, one headed by Dick Doran
Dick Doran
Dick Doran served as a legislative assistant to Philadelphia Congressman William J. Green, as executive director of the Philadelphia Democratic County Executive Committee, as Chief of Staff to Governor Milton J...
; Ed Deseve, Green's finance director, went on to head the U. S. Office of Management and the Budget in the administration of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
; Bill Marrazo, a Green city commissioner, is now president of WHYY
WHYY
WHYY may refer to:* WHYY-TV, a television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, United States* WHYY-FM, a radio station licensed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States...
, Philadelphia's principal public television station.
Green decided not to seek re-election during the Democratic primary and concentrated on his family when his wife Patricia became pregnant. Pat Green was 40 and Green feared for her health and the health of his unborn child if she faced the stress of a political campaign during the pregnancy. After his youngest child, Maura Elizabeth Green, was born healthy near the end of his term, Green joked, "I am the winner" of the 1983 mayoral contest.
Material in Mayor Green's city archives files include correspondence, reports, and other materials relating to the various city departments, boards, commissions, and other city offices. Information is also available on the General Business Tax, the Mayor's Tax Committee, the Mayor's Scholarship Program of 1979-1980, cable TV, Century IV celebration, CETA, the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, energy, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Strike of 1981, the Educational Nomination Panel of 1981-1982, Mayor's and Cabinet members' schedules for 1980–1982, Conversation Hall renovations which were started by Green, council legislation, Freedom Festival, among many other topics.
Post-mayoral career
After his term as Mayor expired, Green practiced law, opened two restaurants in the emerging ManayunkManayunk, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Manayunk is a neighborhood in the northwestern section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. Located on the banks of the Schuylkill River, it contains the first canal begun in the United States . The area's name comes from the language of the Lenape Indians...
section of Philadelphia, and passed up opportunities to run for the U.S. Senate in 1986 and 1991. He established himself as a Washington, D.C. lobbyist and purchased a home in suburban Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
In the late 1980s, the 1990s, and the 2000s, Green pursued a successful career as vice president of government relations for MacAndrews & Forbes, a large holding company that includes Revlon. Green was not involved when President Clinton sought to procure a job with Revlon for Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
through Revlon board member Vernon Jordan.
In 2003, Green retired from MacAndrews & Forbes and returned with his wife to Philadelphia, where he has since kept a low political profile. Some of his associates while he was mayor have dominated Republican mayoral politics in the decades since he has left office, but none has won election in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
His son, William J. "Bill" Green, IV, was elected to Philadelphia City Council
Philadelphia City Council
The Philadelphia City Council, the legislative body of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consists of ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large. The council president is elected by the members from among their number...
in 2007.