Richard C. Lee
{{Short description|American politician (1916–2003)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Richard C. Lee
| image = Richard C. Lee 1961 (3x4a).jpg
| caption = Lee in 1961
| office = Mayor of New Haven, Connecticut
| term_start = 1954
| term_end = 1970
| predecessor = William C. Celentano
| successor = Bartholomew F. Guida
| office1 = 20th President of the United States Conference of Mayors
| term_start1 = 1962
| term_end1 = 1963
| predecessor1 = Anthony J. Celebrezze
| successor1 = Arthur L. Selland
| party = Democratic
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|03|12}}
| birth_place=
| death_date =
| death_place= {{death date and age|2003|02|02|1916|03|12}}
| spouse =
| religion =
| footnotes =
}}
Richard Charles Lee (March 12, 1916 – February 2, 2003) (sometimes called "Mr. Urban America"){{cite news |title=New Haven’s Second Renewal Promising |url=https://www.courant.com/2012/07/18/new-havens-second-renewal-promising/ |access-date=February 15, 2025 |work=Hartford Courant |date=July 18, 2012}} was an American politician who served as the Mayor of New Haven from 1954 until 1970.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/04/nyregion/richard-c-lee-86-mayor-who-revitalized-new-haven.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x04.o72w.TWIl5hOIymFP&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare |title=Richard C. Lee, 86, Mayor Who Revitalized New Haven |date=February 4, 2003 |first=Paul |last=von Zielbauer |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 17, 2025 |quote=As mayor from 1954 to 1970, Mr. Lee, a Democrat, leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars from the state and federal governments to raze blighted city neighborhoods, feats documented in national magazines and newspapers.}} He was a Democrat, and was the youngest mayor of the city had ever had at the time he entered office in 1954 at the age of 37. Lee is best known for his leading role in urban redevelopment in the 1950s and 1960s.
Early life
Richard Charles Lee was born on March 12, 1916. He grew up in a cold-water apartment in the working-class Newhallville neighborhood of New Haven. His father, Frederick, worked at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He graduated from Hillhouse High School in 1934.
Career
After being defeated for mayor in 1949 and 1951, he won in 1953. Lee appointed the city's first black corporation counsel, George Williamson Crawford, in 1954.{{cite web|url=http://www.georgecrawfordblackbar.org/about/|title=George W. Crawford Black Bar Association|access-date=7 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204161601/http://www.georgecrawfordblackbar.org/about/|archive-date=4 December 2010}}
During his first re-election campaign in 1957, John F. Kennedy, then a member of the United States Senate, traveled to New Haven to campaign for him. To shore up New Haven's large Italian-American electorate, the mayor brought in Rocky Marciano, the boxer. He won that election by a 2-to-1 margin.
Lee went on to serve 16 years as mayor, second-longest of New Haven's mayors at the time. In 2003, he died at the age of 86.
In 1962 and 1963, Lee served as the president of the United States Conference of Mayors.{{cite web |url=https://www.usmayors.org/the-conference/leadership/ |title=Leadership |date=November 23, 2016 |access-date=July 24, 2020 |publisher=The United States Conference of Mayors}}
Legacy
On May 17, 1999, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) dedicated the Richard C. Lee United States Courthouse in downtown New Haven to Lee. DeLauro worked with Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Lieberman to rename the federal building, which stands at 141 Church Street. The Richard C. Lee Highway, a freeway in downtown New Haven, is also named in his honor.
A former New Haven public high school, carried the name Richard C. Lee High School in his honor; it has been replaced by Career Magnet High School.Allan Appel, [http://newhavenindependent.org/archives/2008/07/the_monks_of_ne.php New Haven’s Monks Sing On], The New Haven Independent, July 21, 2008 (identifies Lee High School as "the predecessor to Career").Charlotte Libov, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DD1138F93BA1575BC0A96E948260 Schools Trying to Desegregate On Their Own], The New York Times, August 28, 1988 (states that "Career High School, formerly the Richard C. Lee High School, is in Wooster Place and specializes in health fields, business and computers" and describes plans to replace it with a regional magnet school). The Richard C. Lee High School building became the Yale School of Nursing and now houses a variety of Yale Medical School offices.
References
;General
- Paul Von Zielbauer, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E3D61038F937A35751C0A9659C8B63 Richard C. Lee, 86, Mayor Who Revitalized New Haven], The New York Times, February 4, 2003
;Notes
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External links
- Richard Charles Lee papers (MS 318). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.[http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0318]
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{{succession box | before= William C. Celentano | title=Mayors of New Haven, Connecticut | years=1954 — 1970 | after=Bartholomew F. Guida }}
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{{United States Conference of Mayors Presidents}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Richard C.}}
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Connecticut
Category:Mayors of New Haven, Connecticut
Category:Connecticut Democrats
Category:Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut
Category:Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors