James Rolph

James Rolph Jr. ( born August 23, 1869 in San Francisco, California, † June 2, 1934 in Santa Clara, California ) was an American politician. He held office as the 27th governor of California and as Mayor of San Francisco.

Youth and rise

James Rolph grew up in San Francisco, where he attended the common schools. In 1900, he was with a partner named George Hind Shipping in trading. He managed a rapid rise and has been president of two banks. In 1911 he was elected mayor of San Francisco, where he stayed until 1930. This is to date the longest serving mayor in the history of this city. He was a very charismatic mayor. By 1915, he presented himself in a documentary. He went down in the history of his city as Sunny Jim. In addition to his duties as mayor, he served as Director of the Chamber of Commerce also and vice president of the Panama - Pacific International Exposition, the World Exposition of 1915 in San Francisco. His steady rise began in 1930 continued. The Republican Party nominated him for the office of governor, after incumbent CC Young had fallen out of favor.

Governor of California

On January 6, 1931 Rolph took office as the 27th Governor of California. Was overshadowed his entire term of the global economic crisis that did not spare California. Negative headlines made ​​the governor, when he publicly defended lynching. In San José, a mob lynched had confessed murderer. The governor promised the perpetrators immediate pardon if convicted. This earned him the nickname Governor Lynch. A major problem made ​​his in May 1934, when longshoremen in San Francisco went on strike and thus triggered a domestic political crisis, which should make his successor in office, still problems. Rolph did not live to the end of his term. He died on June 2, 1934, after he had already suffered several heart attacks. He was the second to Washington Bartlett California governor who died in office. His brother Thomas (1885-1956) was a congressman from California.