Special thanks go to Richard Milner of Baltimore for a photograph for the ages: Mayor Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin meeting in City Hall nearly 60 years ago with a future mayor of Baltimore, Kurt L. Schmoke.
Mr. Milner, a City College graduate, took this photo for the high school yearbook. “It was Thanksgiving 1966,” he says, “when City played Poly on Turkey Day at Memorial Stadium.” City-Poly was a huge football rivalry for decades, and Mayor McKeldin had students from each team sign some sort of “peace agreement.” At the time of the photo, the young Mr. Schmoke, second from left, would have been a senior at City, the student government president and the football team’s star quarterback. He led City to two undefeated seasons and successive Maryland Scholastic Association A-conference championships in 1965 and 1966. He graduated in 1967 and went to Yale. Mr. Schmoke was elected Baltimore State’s Attorney in 1983, then Mayor of Baltimore in 1987; he served three terms, until 1999. Mr. Milner identified the young man to Mr. Schmoke’s right as Jimmy Wu. The two other students with Mayor McKeldin were from Poly. (If you can identify them, please drop me a line.) Mayor McKeldin was in his last term as Mayor. He had served as the city’s chief executive 20 years earlier, from 1943 until 1947. He ran for Governor of Maryland in 1950 and won. He served two terms in Annapolis before returning to his native Baltimore to practice law, then run for Mayor again in 1963. He opted not to seek re-election in 1967. He was the city’s last Republican mayor.
Discover more from Dan Rodricks
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Dan Rodricks 
When my grandfather died, McKeldin came to the Dabrowski funeral home to pay respects dressed in his famous overcoat and Fedora hat. So did the Delassandros including Nancy with her father. I was 15 at the time and now Nancy is 5 years older than me. My grandfather was part of what they called the “Democratic Machine”. Those were great days for Baltimore.
LikeLiked by 2 people