David L. Lawrence - Pittsburgh Politics

Pittsburgh Politics

When he returned home from his army service in 1919, Lawrence was elected chairman of the Allegheny County Democratic Party. At the time, Pittsburgh was a Republican bastion, with Democrats holding wide support only in the lower class and among recent immigrants. With the help of future Pennsylvania Senator Joe Guffey, Lawrence led the rising Pennsylvania Democratic party that would soon dominate local and state-wide politics. In the 1928 presidential election, David Lawrence worked hard for another Irish Roman Catholic politician who, like himself, had risen from the slums without the benefit of a formal education--Alfred E. Smith. The vicious anti-Catholic campaign that defeated Alfred Smith that year had a profound effect on Lawrence and convinced him that Roman Catholism was an insurmountable handicap in United States presidential politics. Consequently, at the 1932 Democratic Convention, Lawrence deserted Al Smith's presidential campaign and delivered the Pennsylvania delegation to Franklin D. Roosevelt solely because of his fear of the religious issue.

Meanwhile in 1931, Lawrence had run for Allegheny County Commissioner but lost. It was one of his last losses, as the effects of the Great Depression and a series of scandals rapidly eroded support for the Republican party in Pittsburgh. Two years later, he was appointed U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue for Western Pennsylvania by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, he helped elect George Earle as the first Democratic governor of Pennsylvania in the 20th century. Earle then appointed him as the Secretary of the Commonwealth. That same year, he became state chairman of the Democratic Party.

In 1945, Lawrence was elected mayor of Pittsburgh by a narrow margin. At the time, Pittsburgh was considered one of the most polluted cities in America with smog so thick that it was not unusual for streetlights to burn during the daytime. Lawrence developed a seven-point program for Pittsburgh during his first days in office, making him one of the first civic leaders to implement a dedicated urban renewal plan. Republicans still controlled much of city politics and business at the time, so Lawrence had to forge bipartisan alliances to accomplish his objectives. His most famous partnership was with Richard Mellon, chairman of one of the largest banks in America and a staunch Republican. Despite their political differences, Mellon and Lawrence were both interested in the revival of Pittsburgh and both were early environmentalists. This partnership drove what came to be called the “Renaissance” (later Renaissance I) of Pittsburgh.