John Clinton Porter

John Clinton Porter
John Clinton Porter
	Porter in 1933
33rd Mayor of Los Angeles
	In office; July 1, 1929 – July 1, 1933
Preceded by	George E. Cryer
Succeeded by	Frank L. Shaw
Personal details
Born	April 4, 1871; Leon, Iowa, U.S.
Died	May 27, 1959 (aged 88); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
Political party	Democratic

John Clinton Porter (April 4, 1871 – May 27, 1959) was a U.S. political figure. The Los Angeles Times wrote that he represented a "unique mixture of reform politics and xenophobic Protestant populism [that] took him quite literally from the junk yard to City Hall."^[1] Porter was a member of the Ku Klux Klan during its popular resurgence in the early 1920s.^[2]

Biography

He was born on April 4, 1871, in Leon, Iowa to Reverend Josephus Clinton Porter and Mathilda Catherine Gardner.

He served as the 33rd mayor of Los Angeles between 1929 and 1933 when he replaced George Edward Cryer. He survived a recall election in 1932.^[3]

He ran for re-election twice more but was defeated in 1933 by Frank L. Shaw and in 1941 by Fletcher Bowron.

He died of a heart and lung condition in Los Angeles, California on May 27, 1959. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.

References

^ Rasmussen, Cecilia (November 16, 1997). "A Mayor Who Stood for Reform". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 8, 2025. And few among them were more colorful than John Clinton Porter, whose unique mixture of reform politics and xenophobic Protestant populism took him quite literally from the junk yard to City Hall.
^ Stevenson, Brenda Elaine (September 1, 2015). The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender, and the Origins of the LA Riots (1 ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-0190231019. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
^ "Dry Los Angeles Mayor Wins in Recall Vote; Decliner of French Wine Toast Swamps Foes". The New York Times. May 5, 1932. p. 1. Retrieved June 25, 2015. John Clinton Porter, as stanch a dry as the day he declined a wine toast to the French Republic at Havre, marshaled nearly 200,000 votes around his prohibition and other precepts today and was victorious in a recall election by a majority of more than 50,000.