Neal Blaisdell
{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name= Neal Blaisdell
| image=Neal Blaisdell, 1954.jpg
| title= 8th Mayor of Honolulu
| term_start= 1955
| term_end= 1969
| predecessor= John H. Wilson
| successor= Frank Fasi
|office1= 23rd President of the United States Conference of Mayors
|term_start1= 1965
|term_end1= 1966
|predecessor1= Raymond Tucker
|successor1= Jerome Cavanagh
|title2=Member Hawaii Territorial Senate
| term_start2= 1946
| term_end2= 1950
| predecessor2=
| successor2=
|title3=Member Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives
| term_start3= 1944
| term_end3= 1946
| predecessor3=
| successor3=
| birth_name = Neal Shaw Blaisdell
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|11|06}}
| birth_place = Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii
| death_date= {{Death date and age|1975|11|05|1902|11|06}}
| death_place= Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
| resting_place=Oahu Cemetery
| party= Republican
| residence= Hawaii
| spouse=Lucy Thurston
| children=
| profession= Teacher
| alma_mater=University of Hawaii
Bucknell University
| footnotes=
}}
Neal Shaw Blaisdell (November 6, 1902 – November 5, 1975) served as Mayor of Honolulu from 1955 to 1969 as a member of the Hawaii Republican Party. As chief executive of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, he oversaw one of the largest construction booms in city and county history, working closely with Governor John A. Burns. Blaisdell was the sitting mayor when Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959.
Early life
Blaisdell was born in Honolulu and had European and Hawaiian ancestry.
His father was William Wallace Blaisdell II, who served as fire chief of Honolulu;{{cite web |url= http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH0132/501054f7.dir/Blaisdell,%20W%20W.jpg |title= Blaisdell, W. W. office record |work= state archives digital collections |publisher= state of Hawaii |access-date= October 7, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120403160126/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASH0132/501054f7.dir/Blaisdell,%20W%20W.jpg |archive-date= April 3, 2012 }} and his mother was Maliaka "Malie" Alaneao Merseberg.{{cite web |title= Neal Saw Blaisdell |work= Blaisdell family web site |date= July 27, 2007 |url= http://www.blaisdell.org/BFNAFamousBlaisdellsNealS.Blaisdell7-27-2007.doc.pdf |access-date= October 7, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101123004220/http://blaisdell.org/BFNAFamousBlaisdellsNealS.Blaisdell7-27-2007.doc.pdf |archive-date= November 23, 2010 }}
A maternal great-grandfather was John Adams Cummins.{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |John Adams Cummins Was Influential Noble: The Cummins Family—2 |D0.4.20 |dic=maui |q=Blaisdell |accessdate= October 7, 2010 }}
A paternal great-grandfather, John Blaisdell (1812–1889), came to the Hawaiian Islands from Maine in 1849.{{Hawaiian Dictionaries | Citizenship - Passports: page 4 Beard - Brackett |D31-000005 |q=Blaisdell |dic=gene |accessdate= October 7, 2010}}
Education and athletics
Known as "Rusty", Blaisdell played basketball, football and baseball at Saint Louis School.{{cite news |newspaper= Honolulu Advertiser |date= July 2, 2006 |title= Neal Blaisdell |author= Mike Gordon |url= http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/150/sesq4blaisdell |access-date= October 7, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110611012150/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/150/sesq4blaisdell |archive-date= June 11, 2011 }}
He attended the University of Hawaii and later transferred to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he was quarterback of the school's football team, graduating in 1926. He was also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.{{cite web|title=1927 L'Agenda |date= 1927 |publisher=Bucknell University|url= https://archive.org/details/lagenda192700unse/page/46/mode/2up?view=theater }} He received Bucknell's Alumni Award for Meritorious Achievement in 1968. Although Blaisdell also played basketball and baseball, he was inducted into the Bucknell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 in the football category.{{cite web|title=Neal Blaisdell-Bucknell Hall of Fame|url=http://www.bucknellbison.com/sports/hallfame/mtt/blaisdell_neals00.html|publisher=Bucknell University|access-date=October 7, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230085958/http://www.bucknellbison.com/sports/hallfame/mtt/blaisdell_neals00.html|archive-date=December 30, 2010}} He was also a golfer, and started his day with push-ups. He returned to Honolulu to become a teacher, high school coach and athletic director.{{cite book|last=Fitts|first=Robert K|title=Wally Yonamine: The Man Who Changed Japanese Baseball|year=2008|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-1381-4|page=49}}
Public service
Blaisdell was elected representative of the 4th district to the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii in 1945, and the territorial senate in 1947 and 1949.{{cite web |url= http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHb2d5.dir/Blaisdell,%20Neal%20S.jpg |title= Blaisdell, Neal S. office record |work= state archives digital collections |publisher= state of Hawaii |access-date= October 7, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120403160122/http://archives1.dags.hawaii.gov/gsdl/collect/governme/index/assoc/HASHb2d5.dir/Blaisdell,%20Neal%20S.jpg |archive-date= April 3, 2012 }}
In 1950 he ran for Mayor of Honolulu, but withdrew after suffering from tuberculosis.
Blaisdell ran against Frank Fasi and was elected in 1954, taking office in 1955.{{cite news|title=Democratic Party Gains in Hawaii|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=4 Nov 1954|page=9}}{{cite web |author=Lawrence Kestenbaum |title=Neal Shaw Blaisdell |url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/blais-blake.html#0OF0HXLVN |work=The Political Graveyard |access-date=October 7, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906223931/http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/blais-blake.html#0OF0HXLVN |archive-date=September 6, 2010 }} As mayor, he oversaw the construction of the John H. Wilson Tunnels through the Koʻolau Range from Kalihi Valley; and erected the Hawaii International Center, a multipurpose complex with a concert hall, convention center, exhibition hall and sports arena.{{cite book|last=Chaplin|first=George|title=Presstime in Paradise: The Life and Times of the Honolulu Advertiser, 1856-1995|year=1998|publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1963-7|page=271}} After Blaisdell's death, his successor, Fasi, renamed the complex in Blaisdell's honor; is now known as the Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
From 1965 to 1966, Blaisdell was president of the United States Conference of Mayors.{{cite news|title=200 Mayors Support Great Society Plan|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|date=3 June 1965|page=18}}
Death and legacy
Blaisdell married Lucy Thurston on October 23, 1926. Their daughter Velma Blaisdell Clark married James Kalaeone Clark and was a teacher for the Hawai`i State Department of Education. Their daughter Marilyn Blaisdell Ane married another football coach and taught at Punahou School for 28 years.{{cite web |title= 'O' in Life: Marilyn Blaisdell '48 Ane |date= Fall 2007 |publisher= Punhou School |url= http://www.punahou.edu/page.cfm?p=1678 |access-date= October 7, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100621055310/http://www.punahou.edu//page.cfm?p=1678 |archive-date= June 21, 2010 }}
Blaisdell suffered a stroke while doing yard work and died on November 5, 1975, one day shy of his 73rd birthday. He is buried at Oahu Cemetery.
A park of {{convert |25.9|acre}} on the shore of Pearl Harbor (at {{coord |21|23|11|N| 157|57|17|W| type:landmark_region:US-HI|name= Neal S. Blaisdell Park |display=inline}}) was named for him.{{Hawaiian Dictionaries |Blaisdell |dic=cl |accessdate= October 7, 2010 }}{{GNIS |1946693 |Blaisdell Park}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}
External links
- {{Find a Grave |18730422}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | before=John H. Wilson| title=Mayor of Honolulu | years=1955 – 1968 | after=Frank Fasi }}
{{s-end}}
{{HonoluluMayors}}
{{United States Conference of Mayors Presidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaisdell, Neal S.}}
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Hawaii
Category:Burials at Oahu Cemetery
Category:Saint Louis School alumni
Category:University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni
Category:Bucknell University alumni
Category:Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors