Thomas Porcher Stoney
American politician / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Porcher Stoney was the fifty-third mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, serving between 1923 and 1931.
Thomas Porcher Stoney | |
---|---|
53rd Mayor of Charleston | |
In office 1923–1931 | |
Preceded by | John P. Grace |
Succeeded by | Burnett R. Maybank |
Personal details | |
Born | December 16, 1889 Goose Creek, South Carolina, US |
Died | April 22, 1973(1973-04-22) (aged 83) |
Spouse | Beverly Means DuBose |
Children | Theodore DuBose Stoney, Laurence O'Hear Stoney, Randell Croft Stoney |
Alma mater | University of the South, Sewanee, TN; University of South Carolina School of Law (1911) |
Stoney was born at Medway Plantation on December 16, 1889, in rural Berkeley County, South Carolina to Samuel Stoney and Eliza Croft Stoney.[1]
Stoney graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1911 and began a private law practice in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1915, he was elected solicitor (prosecutor) for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, the youngest solicitor elected at that time.[2] He remained in that office until 1923 when he was elected mayor of Charleston.
Stoney encouraged Clelia Peronneau Mathewes McGowan to become one of the first women City Alderman in Charleston.[3] He was re-elected in 1927 and completed that term. One of his major accomplishments as mayor was the creation of a municipal airport. His administration also oversaw the construction of recreational facilities; such as a golf course, a playground named for William Moultrie, and Johnson Hagood Stadium (then a municipal facility, but today the football stadium for The Citadel Bulldogs football team).
He ran for a United States Senate seat, but lost in the Democratic primary to James F. Byrnes in 1936 by a margin of about 10-to-1.[4] During his life he swung across the political spectrum. He was a solid democrat in his early political life, but grew disaffected with the New Deal. In 1936 he gave a speech about the New Deal and said, "[A]ll of this spending is like giving a drunk some drinks to sober him up."[5]
Stoney died on April 22, 1973, at the age of 83. He was struck while walking across a road.[6] He is buried at Strawberry Chapel in Berkeley County, South Carolina.