Arthur Naftalin (June 28, 1917 – May 16, 2005) was an Americanpolitical scientist and politician. A member of theMinnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he served asmayor ofMinneapolis from July 3, 1961, to July 6, 1969. He was the firstJewish mayor of Minneapolis.

Naftalin was born inFargo,North Dakota, one of four children of Sandel and Tillie Naftalin. He was married to Frances Healy Naftalin; among their children isMark Naftalin, a musician who was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 as a member of thePaul Butterfield Blues Band.^[1] Their other notable children are David Michael Bismarck and Gail Marie Naftalin.

Naftalin came toMinneapolis to attend theUniversity of Minnesota, from which he received aBachelor of Arts degree in 1939 and aPhD in 1948. Hisdissertation was a history of theFarmer-Labor Party of Minnesota. During this time, he became acquainted withHubert Humphrey and helped Humphrey lead the merger ofMinnesota's Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties into the DFL in 1944.

In 1945, Humphrey was elected mayor and Naftalin was appointed to work in his office. Naftalin later became a professor in the department of political science at theUniversity of Minnesota. He served as commissioner of administration underGovernorOrville L. Freeman.

In 1961, he won the first of his four two-year terms as mayor, defeating incumbent Republican MayorP. Kenneth Peterson by a margin of 52.04% to 47.96%.^[2] He attended the 1963March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was present atMartin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. He ran for theDFL endorsement forlieutenant governor in 1966. In 1967, he called in theNational Guard to quell the1967 Plymouth Avenue civil unrest. Naftalin declined to seek reelection in 1969, becoming the only mayor of Minneapolis in the period 1913–1979 who never resigned or lost anelection. Naftalin was succeeded byCharlie Stenvig, a police officer with no previous political experience who promised a "law and order" approach to any future civil unrest.

After leaving office, Naftalin became a professor in the department of public affairs at theUniversity of Minnesota (now the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs). In 1971, he joined the board of directors of theCitizens League, and served as president of the board in 1975–1976. From 1976 to 1987, he produced and hosted 500 installments ofMinnesota Issues, a weeklypublic-affairs program on localpublic television stationKTCA. In 1980 he produced, wrote, and narrated a series of one-hour television documentaries about formerMinnesota governors. He retired in 1987.

On the morning of May 16, 2005, Naftalin struck his head in a fall, went into acoma, and died later in the day atAbbott Northwestern Hospital inMinneapolis. He donated his body to theUniversity of Minnesota for research.

• Rochelle Olson (May 17, 2005).Former Minneapolis Mayor Arthur Naftalin dies.Star Tribune.
• David Hawley (May 18, 2005).Arthur Naftalin, 87, former mayor.St. Paul Pioneer Press.
• Citizens League News, 1952–2005CitizensLeague.net

This article incorporates text fromMNopedia, which islicensed under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

• 1917 births
• 2005 deaths
• 20th-century mayors of places in Minnesota
• University of Minnesota alumni
• Accidental deaths from falls in the United States
• Jewish American mayors
• Mayors of Minneapolis
• Minnesota Democrats
• Politicians from Fargo, North Dakota
• Accidental deaths in Minnesota
• Jewish American people in Minnesota politics
• 20th-century American Jews
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