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The City of Brotherly Love
- Brookings Institution Press
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129 eighteen The City of Brotherly Love In Boston, they ask, how much does he know? In New York, how much is he worth? In Philadelphia, who were his parents? —Mark Twain As I was drafting a contract for an Arthur Miller production at Paul, Weiss in 1952, the phone rang. “Bill, this is Richardson Dilworth.” After a few pleasantries, he went on, “Bill, I know you have had an interest in practicing law in Philadelphia. I have just been elected Philadelphia district attorney and am looking for some bright young lawyers to assist me. Would you be willing to drop by my office at my law firm in the Fidelity building sometime next week to discuss employment in the district attorney’s office?” “Well, I am honored, Mr. Dilworth, that you would consider me for such a position. You’re right. I’ve always wanted to practice law in my home town. Lovida would really appreciate not having to rouse me before six every morning to catch the train to New York. Could I come by first thing Monday morning?” “That sounds fine, Bill. Let’s say 9:30 a.m.” “I’ll be there.” Richardson Dilworth was one of the great trial lawyers in Philadelphia’s history. A marine officer in both world wars, he had been a cowboy and oil well driller in the Southwest during his summer college breaks. He learned in the foxhole to respect toughness, commitment, and loyalty. He didn’t care whether a person was rich or poor, a recent immigrant or a fifth-generation Philadelphia Main Liner. A great trial lawyer, in Dilworth’s mind, was like a wrestler who could get his knee on the neck of an opponent and yield only when he pleads “enough.” He flooded his opponents with discovery, gleefully exposed their most closely guarded secrets, and was a vicious cross-examiner. A converted Democrat, Dilworth was a reformer. Unlike most other major northern cities in the United States, especially those with large Negro populations , Philadelphia had been run for decades by a Republican machine. The city council, the mayor, and the so-called row offices (lesser city offices such as 04-0488-1 part4.indd 129 9/9/10 8:28 PM 130 / a philadelphia lawyer controller and treasurer) were staunchly Republican. Even FDR did not carry Philadelphia until 1936. When Dilworth and another young Republican lawyer named Joseph E. Clarke Jr. returned from World War II, they were disturbed by what they saw. The city named by the Quaker William Penn after the Greek philos (love) and adelphos (brother), once the second-largest city in the British Empire, the birthplace of the nation’s founding charters, their beloved hometown of Philadelphia, had become a grimy, poverty-ridden, and corrupt postindustrial city in decline. Garbage dumps burning along the Delaware River dissuaded ships from using the once-thriving Philadelphia port. Public officials ignored the large slums of the burgeoning colored population that had migrated north in search of jobs, joining the indigenous population of former slaves from colonial days. The politicians made peace with organized crime. Several city officials had committed suicide rather than account for their use of public funds.The hundred-year-old Republican machine had brought to a halt Philadelphia ’s progress as a modern American city. Wealthy, articulate, and socially prominent, Dilworth and Clarke joined the Democratic Party. Dilworth started his own law firm, Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish, and Green. Clarke joined the white-shoe law firm of Dechert, Price, and Rhodes. The Democratic Party was under the leadership of Representative William Green, who, though a more traditional politician, welcomed the energetic young reformers into the political mix.The three crusaders launched a drive for a new city charter. They also invigorated the Americans for Democratic Action. In 1951 Joe Clarke ran for mayor and Dilworth ran for district attorney of Philadelphia County. Each won decisively, ending a sixty-seven-year era of Republican control. This caused an extraordinary upheaval in city politics. Dilworth became a celebrity. He was elected mayor in 1955 and served two terms. The Dilworth-Clarke reform era demonstrated what courageous, publicspirited political leadership can accomplish. Between 1952 and 1964, they reformed city government, aggressively pursued corrupt politicians and organized crime, planned the outlines of a modern city, including Society Hill and Independence Mall, created a network of parks and recreation facilities, cleaned up pollution and established trash collection, and launched one of the nation’s premier regional transit authorities...