{{Short description|American politician}} {{More citations needed| date = January 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Louis Miriani | image = Louis Miriani Mayor of Detroit.jpg | order=63rd | office = Mayor of Detroit | term_start = September 12, 1957 | term_end = January 2, 1962 | predecessor = Albert E. Cobo | successor = Jerome Cavanagh | birth_date = January 1, 1897 | birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|10|18|1897|1|1}} | death_place = Pontiac, Michigan, U.S. | constituency = | party = Republican | alma_mater = University of Detroit | spouse = Vera M. Miriani | children = 2 | profession = Lawyer, Politician | signature = | footnotes = }}
'''Louis C. Miriani''' (January 1, 1897 – October 18, 1987) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Detroit, Michigan, from 1957 to 1962. To date, he remains the most recent Republican to serve as Detroit's mayor.
==Biography== Miriani graduated from the University of Detroit Law School.<ref name = "nyt"/> He was chief counsel and later director of the Detroit Legal Aid Bureau.<ref name = "nyt"/> He was elected to the Detroit City Council in 1947, and was council president from 1949 to 1957.<ref name="council">{{cite web|title=Detroit City Council, 1919 to present |publisher=Detroit Public Library |url=http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/mrl/Council.htm |accessdate=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928123713/http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/mrl/Council.htm |archivedate=September 28, 2011 }} </ref> He became Mayor in 1957 after the death of Albert Cobo,<ref name = "lud">{{cite news | title = Detroit's Mayor Cobo, 63, Dies of Heart Attack | newspaper = Ludington Daily News | date = Sep 13, 1957| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OqwwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UzwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6633,481344&dq=louis-miriani&hl=en}}</ref> and was elected in his own right shortly afterward by a 6:1 margin over his opponent.<ref name = "lud2">{{cite news | title = Detroit Elects First Negro | newspaper = Ludington Daily News | date = Nov 5, 1957| url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YqwwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UzwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4331,2974417&dq=miriani&hl=en}}</ref> Miriani was best known for completing many of the large-scale urban renewal projects initiated by the Cobo administration, and largely financed by federal money. Miriani also took strong measures to overcome the growing crime rate in Detroit.<ref>Alan DiGaetano, "Urban political regime formation: A study in contrast." ''Journal of Urban Affairs'' 11.3 (1989) pp: 261-281.</ref> The United Automobile Workers (UAW), then at the height of its size and power, officially endorsed Miriani for reelection, stressing his conservative "law and order" position. However, many African-Americans disagreed with the UAW about Miriani and generally opposed him.<ref>David M. Lewis-Colman, ''Race against liberalism: Black workers and the UAW in Detroit'' (University of Illinois Press, 2008).</ref><ref>Cornelius C. Thomas, "The Trade Union Leadership Council: Black Workers Respond to the United Automobile Workers, 1957-1967." ''New Politics'' 10.2 (2005): 124.</ref>
He served until he was defeated for reelection in 1961 by Jerome Cavanagh, in an upset fueled largely by African-American support for Cavanagh.<ref name = "phoo">{{cite news | author = Joseph Turrini | title = Phooie on Louie: African American Detroit and the Election of Jerry Cavanagh | newspaper = Michigan History | date = Nov–Dec 1999 | url = http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/mhc_mag_phooie-on-louie_308397_7.pdf}}</ref> Under Miriani's administration, Detroit's Cobo Hall and other parts of the Civic Center were completed, and the city's infrastructure was expanded.<ref name = "nyt"/> He was again elected to the City Council in 1965.<ref name = "nyt"/>
In 1969, Miriani was convicted of federal tax evasion of $261,000 and served 294 days in prison.<ref name = "nyt">{{cite news | title = Louis C. Miriani, 90, Former Detroit Mayor | newspaper = New York Times | date = October 21, 1987 | url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEED6173BF932A15753C1A961948260}}</ref> He retired from politics after his conviction.<ref name = "nyt"/>
Miriani died after a long illness on October 18, 1987, in Pontiac, Michigan.<ref name = "nyt"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * Sugrue, Thomas J. "Crabgrass-roots politics: Race, rights, and the reaction against liberalism in the urban North, 1940-1964." ''Journal of American History'' (1995): 551-578. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2082186 in JSTOR] * Sugrue, Thomas J. ''The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit'' (2005)
==External links== {{commons}}
{{S-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = Albert E. Cobo | title = Mayor of Detroit | years = September 12, 1957 – January 2, 1962 | after = Jerome Cavanagh }} {{S-end}}
{{DetroitMayors}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miriani, Louis}} Category:1897 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century mayors of places in Michigan Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Detroit City Council members Category:Mayors of Detroit Category:American people convicted of tax crimes Category:Michigan Republicans Category:Michigan politicians convicted of crimes