Labor and politics: The Detroit municipal election of 1937.

Abstract

The Detroit municipal election of 1937, which produced the highest voter turnout in a Detroit election for city officials up to that time, brought into sharp focus some of the principal conflicts in American public life in the second half of the 1930s. Among these were the response of management to organized labor's growing strength, conflict between CIO and AFL unions, factionalism within the United Automobile Workers, tension between white and black auto workers, the response of the Catholic hierarchy to Father Charles E. Coughlin, and differences about the thrust of the New Deal. Stimulated by its success in organizing auto workers, the UAW sought to flex its muscles in the political sphere as well. In the 1937 municipal election in nonpartisan Detroit, the union endorsed a candidate for mayor, Patrick O'Brien, and fielded a state of councilmanic candidates. O'Brien's call in the primary for the UAW to seize the reins of government in the city of Detroit and in every other large city in the country alarmed Detroit's establishment and put into words its view of the election as a serious threat to the existing order in the city. O'Brien and the union slate survived the primary but went down to defeat in the final election. The 1937 Detroit election dissuaded the UAW from seeking support for a separate labor party in Michigan but left it as a political force in Detroit and in the state. The election revealed how Detroit's middle class reacted to the labor strife of the 1930s and its unwillingness to accept labor control of the city's government. It demonstrated the influence of the Detroit Citizens League as the voice of the city's establishment and as Detroit's real political machine. The establishment was able to retain its control when it was again challenged by labor candidates in 1945 and 1949.