Arthur Naftalin

Background

Naftalin, Arthur was born on June 28, 1917 in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. Son of Sandel and Tillie (Bresky) Naftalin.

Education

Student, North Dakota Agricultural College, 1934-1936; Bachelor of Arts, University Minnesota, 1939; Master of Arts, University Minnesota, 1942; Doctor of Philosophy, University Minnesota, 1948; Doctor of Laws, University North Dakota, 1969.

Career

He was the first and only Jewish mayor of Minneapolis. His dissertation was a history of the Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota. During this time, he became acquainted with Hubert Humphrey and helped Humphrey lead the merger of Minnesota"s Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties into the DFL in 1944.

In 1945, Humphrey was elected mayor and Naftalin was appointed to work in his office.

Naftalin later became a professor in the department of political science at the University of Minnesota. He served as commissioner of administration under Governor Orville L. Freeman.

He attended the 1963 March on Washington and was present at Martin Luther King, Junior."s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. He ran for the DFL endorsement for lieutenant governor in 1966.

In 1967, he had to call in the National Guard to quell unrest.

Naftalin declined to seek re-election in 1969, becoming the only mayor of Minneapolis from the period 1913–1979 who never resigned or lost an election. Naftalin was succeeded by Charlie Stenvig, a police officer with no previous political experience who promised a "law and order" approach to any future civil unrest. After leaving office, Naftalin became a professor in the department of public affairs at the University of Minnesota (now the Hubert H Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs).

In 1971, he joined the Board of Directors of the Citizens League, and served as President of the Board in 1975–1976.

From 1976 to 1987, he produced and hosted 500 installments of Minnesota Issues, a weekly public-affairs program on local public television station KTCA. He also produced, wrote, and narrated a series of one-hour television documentaries about former Minnesota governors in 1980. He retired in 1987. On the morning of May 16, 2005, Naftalin struck his head in a fall.

He went into a coma and died later in the day at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. He donated his body to the University of Minnesota for research.

Achievements

• Arthur Naftalin has been listed as a noteworthy Political science educator emeritus by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Introduction to Social Science; Personality Work Community, Revised Edition
  • An Introduction To Social Science Personality Work Community

Membership

Fellow Urban Land Institute, Academy for Contemporary Problems. Member United States Conference Mayors (chairman advisory board 1967, honorary president 1969), League Minnesota Municipalities (president 1967-1968), Urban Coalition (national steering committee), American Political Science Association, National League Cities (executive committee 1962-1969), American Society Public Administration, National Academy Public Administration.

Connections

Married Frances Marie Healy, July 3, 1941. Children— Mark, David, Gail.

Father:

Sandel Naftalin

Mother:

Tillie (Bresky) Naftalin

Spouse:

Frances Marie Healy

child:

David Naftalin

child:

Gail Naftalin

child:

Mark Naftalin