Hoan, Daniel Webster

Hoan, Daniel Webster

(1881–1961) mayor; born in Waukesha, Wis. He left school early and worked as a cook before he resumed his education and became a lawyer (1908). A convinced Socialist, he became Milwaukee's city attorney (1911–17) and then mayor (1917–41). In what remains the longest continuous Socialist administration in U.S. history, he enacted progressive changes including the building of low-cost housing units, called Garden Homes. In 1944 he left the Socialist Party, and as a Democrat, he ran unsuccessfully for governor (1944, 1946), mayor (1948), and the U.S. Senate (1952).