John D. Butler

{{Short description|American politician (1915–2010)}} {{Other people|John Butler}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John D. Butler | image = Mayor Butler.jpg | caption = | birth_date = August 4, 1915 | birth_place = San Diego, California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2010|2|9|1915|8|4}} | death_place = San Diego, California, U.S. | order = 26th | office = Mayor of San Diego | term_start = {{Dts|format=mdy|1951|5|7}} | term_end = {{Dts|format=mdy|1955|5|2}} | predecessor = Harley E. Knox | successor = Charles Dail | party = Republican | spouse = | children = | alma_mater = San Diego State College (B.A.) University of California, Berkeley Stanford Law School (J.D.) | signature = | website = }}

'''John D. Butler''' (August 4, 1915 – February 9, 2010) was an American Republican politician from California.<ref>[http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/13/mayor-a-gridiron-star-wwii-vet-stanford-law-grad/ Gonzalez, Blanca. Former San Diego Mayor John Butler dies at 94. San Diego Union Tribune. Posted: 13 February 2010]</ref> John Butler was born in San Diego and played football at San Diego State University, where he was named an All-American. He was a transactional lawyer. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy.

Butler was mayor of San Diego, a nonpartisan position, from 1951 until 1955. He was the first "native son" mayor and the youngest mayor in city history.<ref>[https://www.sandiegohistory.org/books/pourade/dream/dreamchapter5.htm Pourade, Richard F. The History of San Diego. San Diego Historical Society.]</ref> During his tenure as mayor, he was responsible for initiating the one-way street system in downtown San Diego and began the development of Mission Bay. He guest starred as himself on two CBS television series, the variety program, ''Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town'', and ''What's My Line?''. In the latter, a quiz program, broadcast on October 5, 1952, panelist Arlene Francis guessed Butler's identity. San Diego politics is the subject of an interview with Butler, which is included in the Oral History Collection of the San Diego Historical Society.<ref>[https://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/91spring/archives.htm The Journal of San Diego History. Spring 1991, Volume 37, Number 2.]</ref> Butler lived in the Point Loma area of San Diego during the last decades of his life and was active at San Diego Yacht Club and La Playa Yacht Club.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHq36JTWJ8 {{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{Succession box| before = Harley E. Knox | title = Mayor of San Diego, California | years = 1951–1955 | after = Charles Dail}} {{S-end}} {{Mayors of San Diego}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, John D.}} Category:1915 births Category:2010 deaths Category:20th-century American sportsmen Category:20th-century mayors of places in California Category:All-American college football players Category:California Republicans Category:Mayors of San Diego Category:Military personnel from San Diego Category:Players of American football from San Diego Category:San Diego State Aztecs football players Category:Stanford Law School alumni Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II