Mayor Tom Bradley Research Papers

Thomas Bradley, also known as “Tom”, was on December 29th, 1917 in a small country town in Texas named Calvert (“Tom Bradley,” 2015). Tom came from a slave background. He was the second oldest sibling of five (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). Bradley grew up wanting to be a police officer and lawyer before finding interest in entering the politics field (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He is most known because he made history by becoming the first African American mayor of Los Angeles in 1973 (“Tom Bradley,” 2015). People were so surprised that he won in a big city without a black majority vote (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). Tom was the man that turned Los Angeles into the huge city that it is today. Bradley wanted to be three things in life why he was

He got the job in 1940 and was a police officer for 21 years which he received the rank as a Lieutenant (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). The rank was the highest that an African American could receive at that time (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He was mad that he could not rank up in his job just because of his race so he decided to pursue his other dream job as an attorney (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). The following year after he became a police officer he married Ethel Arnold which they went on to have two kids (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). The LAPD had only 100 black officers while having 4,000 white officers which showed the racism he was going to have to deal with for years to come (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). During his time of being a police officer, Bradley became very interested in politics (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He was part of the Democratic Minority Conference and the California Democratic Council (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). These were groups of people of different races that were usually more liberal which their decisions in their politic topics (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). Tom got elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1963 which the people of this group were of mixed races (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He served two terms on the City Council which all together was 10 years (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He also was not the only African American to

He was unable to stop the city from economic decline or stop police brutality upon minorities which damaged his political career in a way (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). In 1992, the city of Los Angeles had 3 days of a riot from racial tension which questioned the perception that a black mayor could end racial inequality (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). Bradley served 5 terms in all as Los Angele’s mayor (1973-1993), but retired in in 1993 before pursuing a sixth term (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). To this day, his 20 years in office is the longest tenure by any mayor in the city’s history (“Mayor Tom Bradley,” 2009). He came up with the Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation in his retirement year of 1993 (“Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation at UCLA: Personal Biography”). The Foundation’s main shrine of Gallery’s is located on UCLA’s campus on “Tom Bradley Hall” to this day (“Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation at UCLA: Personal Biography”). The Foundation also gives out scholarships to kids with a disadvantage going to college (“Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation at UCLA: Personal Biography”). It focuses on the leaderships skills in kids today to help for the future. In 2005, the Tom Bradley Legacy Foundation picked Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be one of the first men to be awarded the Tom Bradley Legacy Achievement Award to pass on Tom Bradley’s legacy of leadership and being the first Hispanic mayor of this time and going through some of the