Jasper McLevy
McLevyc. 1939
43rd Mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut
In office November 13, 1933 – November 11, 1957
Preceded by	Edward T. Buckingham
Succeeded by	Samuel J. Tedesco
Personal details
Born	(1878-03-27)March 27, 1878 Bridgeport,Connecticut, U.S.
Died	November 20, 1962(1962-11-20) (aged 84) Bridgeport,Connecticut, U.S.
Party	Social Democratic Federation (after 1936) Socialist (until 1936)
Spouses	Mary Flynn ​ ​ (m. 1912; died 1915)​ Vida Stearns ​ (m. 1929)​

Jasper McLevy (March 27, 1878 – November 20, 1962) was an American politician who served as mayor ofBridgeport, Connecticut from 1933 until 1957. He was a member of theSocialist Party, later leaving in protest to join theSocial Democratic Federation.

Jasper McLevy was born toScottish immigrants Hugh and Mary Stewart McLevy in Bridgeport on March 27, 1878. McLevy worked first as a roofer, learning the trade from his uncle after his own father died when he was 14. After readingEdward Bellamy's futuristic,utopian novelLooking Backward, he became asocialist, and helped form the Bridgeport Socialist Party in the early 1900s. The 24-year-old idealist first ran for theConnecticut General Assembly under the Socialist banner in 1902, collecting 215 votes. He ran another 20 unsuccessful campaigns for local, city, state and federal offices over the following years, including nine tries at mayor, the last in 1931. In all these races he ran as a Socialist at a time when socialists were portrayed as anarchists and bomb-throwers.^[1][2][3]

In the early 1930s, Bridgeport, an industrial city in southern Connecticut, was plagued by corruption and hard hit by theGreat Depression. In 1931, voters had ousted the incumbentRepublican mayor forDemocrat Edward Buckingham and McLevy only lost by a couple thousand votes. By 1933, dissatisfaction had spread to both parties and McLevy trounced the competition, bringing along a Socialist majority on the Board of Aldermen, Bridgeport's city council. While people familiar with local politics had seen the writing on the wall in the 1931 results, the national media was astonished to find the Socialists in control in aNew England city.^[1][2][4]

Contrary to the fears of some,^[who?] capital did not flee Bridgeport and McLevy began upon a reform agenda rather than a revolution.^{[citation needed]} In a time of reduced revenue due to the Depression and, with city coffers depleted by corruption, McLevy managed to meet the city's obligations and balance the books, even reducing taxes. He withheld the lucrative contract for trash hauling, instituting municipal trash collection, saving the city hundreds of thousands of dollars. He took overPleasure Beach where concessionaires had been reneging on taxes and rent for years. He began the process of putting all city purchases out forcompetitive bidding. In one instance when asphalt suppliers all supplied identical bids, he threatened to create a municipal asphalt supplier and broke their cartel. He championed transparency, opening all board and commission meetings to the press and the public ("Operation Goldfish Bowl"). He sold the expensive limousine his predecessor had used. He instituted a merit system in the police and fire departments. McLevy went on to be reelected eleven times.^[1][2][5]

While he was a Socialist, McLevy was known for his fiscal restraint. When asked, after a snow storm, when the city would begin plowing snow, McLevy allegedly replied, "God put the snow there, let him take it away."^[6] McLevy gained a reputation for balancing budgets, reducing spending and micromanaging city affairs. In the vernacular of the time, McLevy was referred to as a "sewer socialist", a pragmatist who focused on the details of running a city.^{[citation needed]}

In the shadow of McLevy's victory, Bridgeport elected several Socialists to the state legislature in 1934.^[1]

Even though he was now residing in the mayor's office, McLevy continued to be a perennial candidate for higher office. In a 1938 gubernatorial campaign, he was called aspoiler when his votes made the difference in RepublicanRaymond E. Baldwin's ouster of incumbent DemocratWilbur L. Cross.^[1][7]

In 1941,Wesleyan University awarded McLevy an honorary degree.^[8]

In 1957, after twenty-four years of service, McLevy was defeated in his bid for reelection as mayor bySamuel J. Tedesco. He ran again, unsuccessfully, in 1959, but finally retired from politics in 1960 due to illness.^[2]

As early as 1936, left-wing socialists, such as party leaderNorman Thomas, accused McLevy, a member of theOld Guard, of paying only "lip service" to socialism. Ultimately, those disagreements led to McLevy taking the Connecticut Socialists out of the National Party briefly in 1938 and permanently in 1950.^[2][9][10]

McLevy was a member of the conservative wing of the Socialist Party. He was a member of the Provisional Executive Committee of theCommittee for the Preservation of the Socialist Party, established in 1934 in response to the defeat of theOld Guard faction at the 1934 Convention of the Socialist Party inDetroit. When that faction lost in its bid to defeat the radicalDeclaration of Principles adopted in Detroit in referendum balloting of the SP's rank and file, the more conservative Party members broke away to form theSocial Democratic Federation. McLevy joined them and disaffiliated his state party from the national Socialists. This caused friction between McLevy and other local Socialists who stayed with the party, including journalistDevere Allen, a close associate of party leader Norman Thomas, and state representativeJack Bergen.^{[citation needed]}

McLevy died on November 20, 1962.^[2]

His papers are archived at theUniversity of Bridgeport.^[11]

McLevy is remembered today as perhaps Bridgeport's second-most famous mayor (the first beingP. T. Barnum).McLevy Hall and McLevy Green between Broad and Main Street at State Street are both named for Jasper McLevy.

In 1953August Claessens, a close ally of McLevy and fellow member of theSocial Democratic Federation, described the career and personality of Jasper McLevy as such in his book "Didn't We Have Fun!":

Jasper McLevy has been reelected to so many terms that one loses count. Definitely, Jasper was not elected and reelected because the Bridgeport citizens wanted socialism. McLevy's first election was a revolt against a shameless state of corruption and mismanagement cursing the city in which he lived. Jasper is an old, respected and familiar character in Bridgeport. A roofer by trade, a very simple and honest soul, a Scotch-man by lineage, he is noted for his canny shrewdness and sharp business sense. Jasper is also a grand mixer. There is not a civic or social function that he misses. He used to participate — I don't know if he is still able to get around — at every wedding, funeral, house warming and clambake — and go home sober. But his utter simplicity, his complete late of official pride and pomp, and his democratic disposition and good humor, endear him to every Bridgeport man and woman. It looks as if the old party opponents will defeat McLevy only by shooting him.^[12]

• List of elected socialist mayors in the United States
• Irving Freese, Socialist mayor ofNorwalk, Connecticut, and Jasper McLevy's nephew by marriage.

• 1878 births
• 1962 deaths
• Mayors of Bridgeport, Connecticut
• American Presbyterians
• Wesleyan University people
• Socialist Party of America politicians from Connecticut
• Members of the Social Democratic Federation (United States)
• 20th-century mayors of places in Connecticut

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