George Christopher | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Christopherc. 1955 | |
| 34th Mayor of San Francisco | |
| In office January 8, 1956 – January 8, 1964 | |
| Preceded by | Elmer Robinson |
| Succeeded by | John F. Shelley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Georgios Christopheles December 8, 1907 Agios Petros,Arcadia,Kingdom of Greece |
| Died | September 14, 2000(2000-09-14) (aged 92) San Francisco,California, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Profession | Accountant, businessman |
George Christopher (bornGeorge Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was aGreek-American politician who served as the 34thmayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1964. As of 2025, he is the most recentRepublican to be elected mayor of San Francisco.
Born George Christopheles inArcadia, Greece, the son of James and Mary (née Koines) Christopheles.[1] He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1910 and settled inSan Francisco'sSouth of Market neighborhood, then known as "Greektown", when Christopher was two years old. Christopher left school at the age of fourteen when his father James became seriously ill, and he became sole support of his family. He sold newspapers and became a copy boy at theSan Francisco Examiner.[1] While working, he also attended night classes atGolden Gate College and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting. After becoming a citizen of the United States in 1930, Christopheles changed his last name to Christopher.[1] In 1935, he married Tula Sarantitis.[1]
After college, Christopher worked for numerous small firms keeping their accounts and eventually bought out a small dairy on Fillmore Street, which became the Christopher Dairy.[1]Berkeley Farms bought the business in 1970.[2]
Regarded as amoderate Republican,[3] Christopher began his political career in 1945 when he was elected to theSan Francisco Board of Supervisors; on re-election, he became board president. Christopher ran for mayor in1951 and lost by fewer than 3,000 votes to incumbent mayorElmer Robinson. In November1955, Christopher again sought the post of mayor. He won in a landslide over Democrat George Reilly.[1] During his administration, San Francisco hosted the1956 Republican National Convention at theCow Palace, in which the party renominated incumbent presidentDwight D. Eisenhower as its candidate in the upcomingpresidential election. Christopher was re-elected in1959 for a second term.[4] Christopher was instrumental in bringing the New York Giants baseball team to San Francisco in 1958 (where they became theSan Francisco Giants) and securing the funding to buildCandlestick Park on the abandoned lands of Sunset Scavenger on Candlestick Point with the ballpark opening for the Giants’ 1960 season. His administration has been credited with the building of the Brooks Hall, 12 new schools, 17 firehouses, six public swimming pools, the five-story Fifth and Mission and the underground Civic Center garages.[1] Christopher was known for his strong stand on civil rights. He gained worldwide headlines offering his home toWillie Mays after it was reported that a Forest Hill realtor had refused to sell to Mays.[5] Christopher also lobbied and succeeded in opening mental health and alcohol treatment centers under city funding.
Christopher presided over the redevelopment of major portions of city and private lands, labeledslums, some not without controversy as theEmbarcadero Center and Golden Gateway, displacing the old wholesale produce market from the filled land southeast ofTelegraph Hill to the Alemany location where it remainsJapantown and theFillmore urban renewal that displaced the African-American and the remnants of the Jewish Community for concrete high rises, the newHall of Justice and the opening of theEmbarcadero Freeway, which blocked theEmbarcadero andFerry Building from the city, spawning the firstFreeway Revolt. In Christopher's second term, theHouse Subcommittee on Un-American Activities held hearings in the City Hall supervisor's chambers. A large group of students and active citizens were fire-hosed down the marble steps inside City Hall rotunda by theSan Francisco Police Department when they protested their exclusion from admission to committee hearings. Christopher later told the Federal Government they were no longer welcome in city buildings, but he sided with the committee and spoke for the propaganda newsreel-style film made by the committee about the event, titledOperation Abolition,[6][7] that blamed Communists for the so-called City Hall riot of May 13, 1960. Christopher was criticized for endorsing the film while saying that "at least 90% of the students were not organized by the Communists."[7]
Christopher's various bids for higher office failed. In 1958, Christopher was defeated in the Republican primary forU.S. Senate by GovernorGoodwin Knight. In 1962, whenRichard Nixon ran for governor, Christopher ran forlieutenant governor, losing to incumbent DemocratGlenn M. Anderson. He lost the June 8, 1966, Republican primary forGovernor of California to motion picture and television actor (and futureconservative icon andPresident)Ronald Reagan, who won with 77 percent of the vote.[3] Historian Geoffrey Kabaservice points out that aDrew Pearson column that highlighted a 1940 arrest of Christopher for buying and selling underpriced milk, a story fed to Pearson by the staff of incumbent governorPat Brown, and Christopher's underwhelming response to that column contributed to the loss.[3]
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| National | |
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