[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E66-E67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH L. ALIOTO, FORMER MAYOR OF SAN FRANCISCO

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me today in 
paying tribute to Joseph L. Alioto, an outstanding American who served 
two terms as the mayor of San Francisco from 1968 to 1976 and who left 
his distinctive stamp on our city. Joe Alioto died last Thursday at his 
home in San Francisco after a struggle with prostate cancer. Mr. 
Speaker, Joseph Alioto left an indelible imprint on San Francisco, and 
he represents the best of this city.
  Immigrants have contributed much to the character, the zest and the 
diversity of San

[[Page E67]]

Francisco, and Joe Alioto was a product of that culture. The son of a 
Sicilian immigrant fish wholesaler, he was born in 1916 in North Beach 
and grew up in that area. He attended San Francisco schools--Garfield 
and Salesian Schools and then Sacred Heart High School. He graduated 
from St. Mary's College in Moraga, and then received a law degree from 
Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
  As an attorney, Joe Alioto had a highly successful career, both 
before and after his two terms as Joe Alioto's mayor. After completing 
law school in our nation's capitol, he accepted a position in the 
Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1945 he 
returned to San Francisco to establish a highly successful private 
antitrust legal practice, one of the first such practices in the 
country. After retiring from politics in 1976 upon the completion of 
two terms as mayor, Joe Alioto returned to his antitrust practice, 
which for a time was our nation's largest such law practice. He 
established a distinguished record as a determined advocate for such 
clients as Walt Disney, Samuel Goldwyn and Al Davis, the owner of the 
Oakland Raiders football team.
  His career in public service began shortly after he returned to San 
Francisco in 1945, after spending eight years in Washington, D.C. at 
law school and at the Department of Justice. In 1948 Joseph Alioto was 
appointed to the San Francisco School Board, and seven years later he 
became a member of the board of the City's Redevelopment Agency.
  The decision to run for mayor of San Francisco was not a part of a 
calculated or long-term plan. In 1967, Joe Alioto was chairman of the 
mayoral campaign of Eugene McAteer, who died suddenly from a heart 
attack just two months before the election. After a few days of 
reflection, Alioto made the decision to run in McAteer's place. He 
waged a lightning 55-day campaign and won, overcoming the lead of his 
opponent in the early polls of 44 to 17.
  The two terms that he served as mayor--from 1968 to 1976--were a 
critical time, and his administration left a positive and a lasting 
imprint on the City that he loved. He became mayor during a politically 
unstable period--hippies dominated Haight-Ashbury; demonstrations, some 
of which turned violent, were taking place against the Vietnam War; and 
racial tensions reached a fever pitch following a series of street 
killings known as the Zebra murders.
  Mayor Alioto largely succeeded in keeping the city at peace during 
the turbulent period of domestic protests against the Vietnam War. He 
fought racial violence and intolerance, telling black militants ``come 
to me with your problems before you take them to the streets.'' He was 
a strong advocate of civil rights, and he was also a strong opponent of 
violence. As our current San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said, he 
was ``a champion of racial diversity long before it was fashionable.''
  Mr. Speaker, the tenure of Joseph Alioto as mayor has had a permanent 
impact upon the physical appearance of San Francisco. He was largely 
responsible for the building boom that created the downtown city 
panorama as we now know it, including the TransAmerica Pyramid, the 
Embarcadero Center, the Golden Gateway, and a number of skyscrapers 
that still dominate the city's profile. Hunters Point renewal programs 
began under his leadership, and the city escaped the destructive 
rioting that convulsed a number of other major American cities at that 
time. Jerry Carroll and William Carlsen in The San Francisco Chronicle 
said his legacy as mayor was ``an explosion of downtown growth that 
changed the city's skyline, helped cement San Francisco as a player on 
the Pacific Rim and stirred up the neighborhoods in a way that has 
altered the city's political landscape to this day.''
  He seized national attention as San Francisco's mayor. In 1968, just 
a few months after he was elected mayor, he was considered a leading 
candidate as runningmate of Democratic presidential candidate, Hubert 
Humphrey. Though ultimately he was not selected as the vice 
presidential candidate, he did make the speech nominating Senator 
Humphrey at the Democratic Convention.
  His career suffered from a libelous story about him in Look Magazine 
in 1969. Although he eventually won a substantial libel judgment 
against the magazine in the courts, his political career did not 
recover. He easily won reelection as mayor of San Francisco in 1972, 
but he lost the Democratic primary for governor of California in 1974. 
When his second term as mayor was completed in 1976, he returned to his 
legal practice, which he continued until a few months before his death.
  Joseph Alioto was a larger-than-life personality. Ken Garcia in The 
Chronicle said, ``On so many levels, Joe Alioto was San Francisco--
often vain and parochial but unerringly charming and sophisticated, and 
always ready for a good fight.'' Carroll and Carlsen, also in The 
Chronicle, called him ``bold, tireless and articulate, combining a 
boundless self-confidence with a buoyant charm and erudition that 
enabled him to dominate any gathering.'' In an editorial paying well 
deserved tribute to the former mayor, The Chronicle called Alioto ``a 
man who embodied boundless ambition, high self-regard, operatic 
conduct, and the city's immigrant character'' and dubbed him ``a San 
Francisco story, a local boy who made good, charging through life in 
high style.''
  He was larger than life. As The Chronicle observed editorially, ``He 
gave speeches in Italian. He wrote poetry that he spouted in North 
Beach coffeehouses.'' Carroll and Carlsen added that, ``in addition to 
everything else, Alioto was found of quoting Dante and St. Thomas 
Aquinas to illustrate his points.''
  His last press conference as mayor in 1976 gives some of the flavor 
of the man. He spent more of the time at this final press conference 
savaging the media; nevertheless, the next day, The Chronicle called 
him a ``colorful and zestful man, who roared into office literally 
bursting with energy and imagination'' and further said he was ``one of 
the most energetic, entertaining and stylish of mayors.''
  Mayor Willie Brown observed that ``Joe's two great loves were his 
family and the city of San Francisco.'' Mr. Speaker, I invite my 
colleagues to join me in extending condolences to Joseph Alioto's 
family--his wife Kathleen Sullivan Alioto, and his children Lawrence 
M., Joseph M., John, Michael, Angela Mia, Thomas, Patrick, and 
Domenica. He will be missed, Mr. Speaker. He was a great mayor, a 
dedicated public servant, and a great San Franciscan.

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