Hatcher, Richard

Mayor of Gary, Indiana, for 20 years beginning January 1, 1968, Richard Gordon Hatcher (1933-) was the first African American chief executive of an American city whose population exceeded 100,000. Hailed as a Moses to his people, Hatcher symbolized the limits of black urban political power. He swept into office as a result of an anti-machine grassroots struggle, in contrast to Carl Stokes, the choice of Cleveland's Democratic hierarchy, who was sworn in several hours later that same day. Hatcher grew up in nearby [Page 326]Michigan City, Indiana and graduated from Indiana University and Valparaiso Law School. Moving to Gary in 1960, he quickly rose to the forefront of struggles involving discrimination in education, law enforcement, hiring practices, access to public parks, and housing. In 1963, the 30-year-old attorney was elected councilman-at-large with help from a community organization called Muigwithania, a Swahili word meaning, “We are together.” In the 1967 Democratic primary, Hatcher defeated Mayor A. Martin Katz and maverick Bernard Konrady, who siphoned off white votes from the incumbent. Following county boss John Krupa, most white precinct committeemen supported Republican Joseph Radigan in the general election. Hatcher won by 1,865 votes out of 77,759 cast, receiving 96 percent of the black total and just 12 percent of white votes. Had a federal judge not purged “ghost voters,” the city might have gone up in flames.

With a bankrupt treasury, eroding local tax base, state-imposed limitations to home rule, elevated race tensions, and a wary business community, Hatcher focused on tapping into Great Society programs. His administration won praise for its imaginative Model Cities experiments, but War on Poverty revenues declined after Richard M. Nixon succeeded Lyndon B. Johnson as president a year into the mayor's first term. Nevertheless, Model Cities provided leadership opportunities for many talented ghetto residents. In 1972, Hatcher hosted a historic National Black Political Convention at Gary West Side High School. It attracted more than 4,000 delegates, including co-chair Imamu Baraka, Angela Davis, Coretta Scott King, and Jesse Jackson. White flight and business disinvestment having decimated downtown, Hatcher launched a “genesis” strategy aimed at stimulating minority entrepreneurship. During President Jimmy Carter's presidency, federal money facilitated completion of a civic center and the transformation of the defunct Hotel Gary into Genesis Towers (providing housing for seniors), but Ronald Reagan's election led to devastating cuts in city services. Plans to expand use of the Gary airport stalled after the death of Chicago's Mayor Harold Washington, Hatcher's closest regional ally.

With little cooperation from state officials, Hatcher became convinced that only a reordering of federal priorities could rejuvenate rust belt cities such as Gary. Convening a 1982 Black Economic Summit, he called for a massive aid program comparable to the postwar Marshall Plan. Twice he was campaign director for presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson. Chairman of TransAfrica, a group that pressured Congress into slapping sanctions on South Africa, Hatcher spent a night in jail after picketing in front of the apartheid regime's embassy. Although a diminishing number of Gary residents were mill workers, a 6-month steel strike ravaged the local economy. In 1987, Hatcher faced his most formidable opponent, Township Assessor Thomas V. Barnes, whose “Clean-Up Gary” campaign emphasized the need for improved services and cooperation with neighboring communities—and lost. In 1991, Hatcher failed to unseat Barnes and polled about the same number of votes as white criminal attorney Scott King, who captured City Hall in 1995. Retiring from electoral politics, Hatcher taught at Indiana University Northwest and Valparaiso Law School and vainly tried to revive local interest in a civil rights hall of fame. Twice he visited South Africa as President Nelson Mandela's guest. This was heady stuff for the son of an illiterate Georgia tenant farmer.

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