W. Wilson Goode (born August 19, 1938), the first African American Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born into a family of tenant farmers in North Carolina around 1938. Arriving in Philadelphia in 1954, Goode promptly plunged into the life of the city. He graduated from Morgan State University, and after serving as a neighborhood leader, co-founder of the Black Political Forum, and manager of the unsuccessful 1971 mayoral campaign of State Representative Hardy Wiliams, earned a master's degree in government administration from the Fels Institute of Government [1] at the University of Pennsylvania. August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... A mayor (from the Latin maÄ«or, meaning larger,greater) is the politician who serves as chief executive official of some types of municipalities. ... Independence Hall, as it appears today. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 28th 139,509 km² 805 km 240 km 9. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Morgan State University, located in residential Baltimore, Maryland, awards Baccalaureate, Masters and Doctorate degrees. ...

After African-American state senators complained that there had never been an African-American member of the Public Utilities Commission, Governor Milton J. Shapp began actively searching for one. His aide, Terry Dellmuth, knew Goode from his community and political activities, and recommended him. Shapp – in Goode's judgement perhaps mistaking him for someone else – nominated him and the Senate confirmed him despite a recent record of obstructing Shapp's PUC choices. Gov. ...

As a PUC Commissioner, Goode met with community groups around the state, studied the issues intensively, compiled a pro-consumer record, and forged good working relations with his fellow commissioners. He was soon elevated to the Chairmanship of the PUC, where he continued his pro-consumer policies but worked to limit PUC expenditures.

Dick Thornburgh's election as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1978 on the Republican ticket created a desire by Republicans to control the PUC. A Democratic PUC Commissioner, Helen O'Bannon, was appointed by Thornburgh as Secretary of Public Welfare. Richard Dick Thornburgh Richard L. Dick Thornburgh (born July 16, 1932) is a lawyer and Republican politician who served as the Governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the U.S. Attorney General from 1988 to 1991. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ...

Mayor of Philadelphia, and former United States Congressman, William J. Green (elected mayor in November, 1979) -- who had promised to appoint a black managing director after winning a racially divisive Democratic primary against former deputy mayor Charles Bowser -- kept his promise by appointing Goode Managing Director after members of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce actively joined key members of the black community and urged Green to appoint Goode. Seeking to unite the city of Philadelphia, Green went along with these recommendations and made Goode his managing director. Goode used this position to make himself extremely visible, attending community events around the clock. His campaigning for Mayor had already begun. William J. Green, III, the son of Congressman William J. Green, Jr. ... Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... It has been suggested that Democratic presidents be merged into this article or section. ...

Then during the next primary election Green decided not to seek re-election when his wife, Patricia, became pregnant with their youngest child. Pat Green was in her 40's; due to health concerns for his wife and unborn child, Green withdrew from the race. Green stated that he did not want to put his wife through the stress of a campaign during the complicated pregnancy. His daughter, Maura Green, was born toward the end of his term. She was a healthy 10 pound 12 ounces!

When Green withdrew from the primary election for a 2nd term, Goode jumped into the race. He defeated Rizzo in the primary election went on to win the general election against former Green fundraiser and Philadelphia Stock Exchange Chairman John Egan, the Republican nominee.

Goode continued his heavy public schedule as Mayor, probably spending more time at public events than any of his Democratic predecessors. However, he failed to sell City Council on the necessity of a trash to steam plant to avoid using landfills, and the economics of landfill use soon changed, lowering landfill costs and raising incineration costs, making a trash to steam plant too expensive to be feasible.

Goode's tenure as Mayor was marred by the MOVE controversy in which Goode bombed a MOVE compound in West Philadelphia and wound up burning an entire city block when the fire raged out of control. MOVE was a radical back to nature group which, under the leadership of founder John Africa, had long made a nuisance of itself by ignoring city sanitation codes and barricading itself in houses when law enforcement came to enforce them. MOVE! is an organisation formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972 by John Africa (Vincent Leaphart) and Donald Glassey. ...

While public opinion initially supported Goode, an investigation by a commission appointed by Goode held extensive public hearings in which Goode's judgement was held up to public scrutiny. The negative publicity engendered helped elect Republican Ron Castille as District Attorney in 1985, and encouraged former District Attorney and unsuccessful 1986 Democratic primary gubernatorial candidate Ed Rendell to oppose him for the Democratic mayoral nomination in 1987. Goode defeated Rendell for the Democratic nomination, and then defeated the Republican nominee, former Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, in the general election. In both primary and general elections, Philadelphia's black voters stuck by Goode, although with less enthusiasm than he had aroused in 1983. This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gov. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

During the Green administration, the city budget had been balanced; the first few years of Goode's reign caused the city to go into debt again. Later, in an attempt to re-balance the city's budget, Goode pushed through tax increases raising the city's wage tax to an all-time high of 4.96%. Under his successors Ed Rendell and John F. Street, the city wage tax would gradually be reduced.

Goode was unable to maintain Philadelphia's black vote as a unified bloc. A well-funded and highly publicized attempt to purge Philadelphia City Councilman at Large David Cohen, a leading critic of Goode's trash to steam proposal, backfired as Cohen came in first in total votes in the 1987 Council at Large Democratic Primary for the five seats to be filled, and set an all-time record for most votes received for that position in a Democratic primary. (Eighteen years later, Goode would be the only former Mayor of Philadelphia attending Councilman Cohen's funeral. His son and Cohen's City Council colleague, W. Wilson Goode, Jr., would eulogize Cohen at a special memorial service held in Philadelphia's City Council.) David Cohen (November 13, 1914 - October 3, 2005), was an American politician, noted for his service in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933 to 1945), who, at the time of his death served in an At-Large seat in the Philadelphia City Council. ...

In the 1991 Democratic Primary, three blacks – former Councilman Lucien E. Blackwell, a strong Goode loyalist; George Burrell, a Goode critic allied with Congressman William Gray; and James White, Goode's managing director – faced white candidates Ed Rendell and Peter Hearn, a former Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Although White withdrew before the primary, Rendell won, getting 10% of the black vote as Blackwell and Burrell divided the rest. 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Lucien E. Blackwell was a Congressman who represented West Philadelphia and parts of Delaware County, Pennsylvania from 1991-1994. ... Dr. William M. Bill Gray is a professor at Colorado State University, and head of the Tropical Meteorology Project at CSUs Department of Atmospheric Sciences. ... James White (politician) (1749-1809) - Member of United States Congress James White (Scottish politician) MP for Glasgow, Pollok before 1987 James Deacon White (1847-1939) - star baseball player of the 1870s and 1880s James White (fighter pilot) (1893-1972) - WW1 Royal Naval Air Service fighter ace James White (author) (1928...

Goode stayed active after leaving as Mayor, attending community meetings, hosting a radio show on WDAS, and holding mid-level positions in the U.S. Department of Education. He became active for a time in the personal development programs of Werner Erhard's Landmark Education, including the Landmark Forum, a successor to est. He earned a Ph.D. in theology at Eastern University, and became a highly regarded minister, leader of advocacy for faith-based initiatives, and leader of outreach to prisoners. The United States Department of Education was created in 1979 (by PL 96-88) as a Cabinet-level department of the United States government, and began operating in 1980. ... Personal development (also known as self-development or personal growth) comprises the development of the self. ... Werner Erhard John Paul Jack Rosenberg, born on September 5, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded the large group awareness training program est, short for Erhard Seminars Training, which later gave rise to WEA (1981 - 1991) and to the Landmark Forum/Landmark Education (1991 - ). Rosenberg married at age 18 and fathered... The term Landmark Education refers to the corporation Landmark Education LLC and to its commercial operations, which primarily involve the delivery of a series of motivational and self-development courses. ... Landmark Education (LE), founded in 1991 and long known as Landmark Education Corporation or as LEC, purchased certain rights to a so-called training course known as The Forum from Werner Erhard and Associates (WEA -- the corporate successor of Erhard Seminars Training or EST). ... Est may signify: The suffix -est used in creating a superlative adjective or adverb EST.., New Zealand Graffiti-influenced Art Label Eastern Standard Time East in French, when referring to France, the Franche-Comté and Lorraine régions Erhard Seminars Training Est, Netherlands Electroshock Therapy, now known as Electroconvulsive Therapy... Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph. ... Theology is reasoned discourse concerning God (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason). It can also refer to the study of other religious topics. ... Eastern University is a private, co-educational, and Christian university in Pennsylvania. ...

His son, W. Wilson Goode, Jr., was defeated for Councilman at Large in the 1991 Democratic Primary, but was appointed by Mayor Ed Rendell to a position in the city commerce department in 1992. Young Goode was elected Councilman at Large in 1999, with the active support of Democratic mayoral nominee John Street, Chairman of the Council Appropriations Committee in the Goode Administration, and easily re-elected Councilman at Large in 2003. The younger Goode received more votes in African American wards than any other councilman at large candidate, and is considered a possible 2007 Democratic mayoral candidate. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... John F. Street is the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...