View source for Carl Zeidler

{{short description|American politician}}

{{More citations needed|date=May 2009}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name            = Carl Zeidler
| image           = Carl Zeidler circa 1940.jpg
| caption         = Zeidler {{circa}} 1940
| order           = 39th
| office          = Mayor of Milwaukee
| term_start      = April 15, 1940
| term_end        = April 8, 1942
| predecessor     = [[Daniel Hoan]]
| successor       = [[John Bohn]]
|birth_name=Carl Frederick Zeidler
| birth_date      = {{Birth date|mf=yes|1908|01|04}}
| birth_place     = [[Milwaukee]], [[Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date      = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1942|12|11|1908|01|04}}
| death_place     = [[SS La Salle]], off [[South Africa]]
| death_cause = [[Killed in action]]
| party           = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] 
| relatives       = [[Frank Zeidler]] (brother)
| profession      = Assistant city attorney, politician
}}
'''Carl Frederick Zeidler''' (January 4, 1908 – December 11, 1942) was an American politician and the [[List of mayors of Milwaukee|mayor]] of the city of [[Milwaukee|Milwaukee, Wisconsin]], from 1940 to 1942, winning election by unseating six-term Socialist mayor [[Daniel Hoan]]. After just two years in office Zeidler resigned his position as mayor to enlist in the [[United States Navy Reserve]] to fight in [[World War II]]. His [[merchant marine]] ship and all hands died the coast of [[South Africa]] in December 1942 after being hit by a German U-boat [[German submarine U-159 (1941)|U-159]] torpedo attack.

==Biography==

===Early years===
Zeidler was born January 4, 1908, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to parents of German ancestry. He graduated from [[Marquette University]] in 1929 and received a J.D. in 1931 from [[Marquette University Law School|its law school]].

===Political career===
[[File:40-zeidler-mayoralpinback.jpg|thumb|left|165px|Pinback button from Zeidler's 1940 campaign]]
Serving as an assistant city attorney for Milwaukee (1936–1940), Zeidler stunned the city when he upset six-term [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] mayor [[Daniel Hoan]] to become mayor of Milwaukee in 1940. Hoan had served as mayor for the past 24 years.

His rise to power was orchestrated by young writers [[Robert Bloch]] (later the author of ''[[Psycho (novel)|Psycho]]'') and [[Harold Gauer]], who created elaborate campaign shows. In Bloch's autobiography, ''[[Once Around the Bloch]]'', he gives an inside account of the campaign, and the innovations he and Gauer came up with, such as the original "releasing-balloons-from-the-ceiling" ''schtick''. He comments bitterly on how, after Zeidler's election, they were ignored and not even paid their promised salaries, while credit was taken by local establishment figures like [[Milton Rice Polland]] instead.

Bloch ends the account with a philosophical point:

{{blockquote|If Carl Zeidler had not asked Jim Doolittle to manage his campaign, Doolittle would never have contacted me about it. And the only reason Doolittle knew me to begin with was because he read my yarn ("The Cloak") in ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]''.

Rattling this chain of circumstances, one may stretch it a bit further. If I had not written a little vampire story called "The Cloak", Carl Zeidler might never have become mayor of Milwaukee.<ref>Bloch, Robert. ''Once Around the Bloch: An Unauthorized Autobiography'' New York: Tor Books, 1993.</ref>}}

===Death and legacy===
[[File:Carl Zeidler.jpg|thumb|right|Gravesite [[cenotaph]] in Forest Home Cemetery]]

Zeidler's election was attracting attention on the national political scene<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Singing Mayor from Marquette Law School – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog|date=23 August 2010 |url=https://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2010/09/the-singing-mayor-from-marquette-law-school/|access-date=2021-09-20|language=en-US}}</ref> as [[World War II]] broke out. After a year in office, Zeidler came to believe he could best help the war effort by enlisting; he resigned his position as mayor and accepted a [[United States Navy Reserve|Naval Reserve]] [[commissioned officer|commission]] on April 8, 1942. He asked for the most dangerous job on ship and became officer in charge of a gun battery on board the [[United States Merchant Marine|merchant ship]] [[SS La Salle]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/peopleView.aspx?KCWlzjrhIHmKc7rcSH5s/w== | title= SS La Salle (+1942) | website=www.wrecksite.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/death-at-war-cut-short-milwaukee-mayor-carl-zeidlers-political-career-b99623568z1-358497271.html/ | title=Death at war cut short Milwaukee Mayor Carl Zeidler's political career | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029052146/https://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/death-at-war-cut-short-milwaukee-mayor-carl-zeidlers-political-career-b99623568z1-358497271.html/ | archive-date=2020-10-29}}</ref>

The ship and all hands were reported missing off the coast of [[South Africa]] on November 7, 1942, sunk by a German U-boat [[German submarine U-159 (1941)|U-159]] torpedo attack.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2007-01-11|title=Highlights at the Wisconsin Historical Society|url=http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2006/07/the_last_americ.asp|access-date=2021-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070111212215/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/highlights/archives/2006/07/the_last_americ.asp|archive-date=2007-01-11}}</ref> Zeidler was officially presumed dead December 11, 1944. A gravestone cenotaph marks his plot at [[Forest Home Cemetery]] in Milwaukee.

Carl's brother, socialist [[Frank P. Zeidler]], later became mayor of Milwaukee and served in that position from 1948 to 1960. Carl's mayoral papers are archived at [[Milwaukee Public Library]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zeidler |first=Carl F. |title=Carl F. Zeidler Mayoral Records, 1936-1943 |url=http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.mwpl-cmac0044 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2023-07-29}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[List of mayors of Milwaukee]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{Succession box |
  before=[[Daniel Webster Hoan]]|
  title=[[List of mayors of Milwaukee|Mayor of Milwaukee]]|
  years=1940&ndash;1942|
  after=[[John Bohn]]
}}
{{S-end}}
{{Mayors of the City of Milwaukee}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeidler, Carl}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1940s missing person cases]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:Marquette University alumni]]
[[Category:Marquette University Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Mayors of Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Milwaukee]]
[[Category:Missing in action of World War II]]
[[Category:Missing person cases in Africa]]
[[Category:People who died at sea]]
[[Category:United States Navy officers]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:United States Navy reservists]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Home Cemetery]]