page_title: History of Cleveland
section_title: Turbulent era
hierarchical_section_title: History of Cleveland / 20th century / Turbulent era
caption_attribution_description: English: Dennis Kucinich in the House from Ohio.
context_page_description: The written history of Cleveland began with its founding by General Moses Cleaveland of the Connecticut Land Company in 1796. The city's central location on the southern shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River allowed it grow into a major trade center in the early 19th century. After the American Civil War, Cleveland grew to be a major industrial city and a gateway for European and Middle Eastern immigrants, as well as African American migrants, seeking jobs and opportunity. For most of the 20th century, Cleveland was one of America's largest cities, but after World War II, it suffered from post-war deindustrialization and suburbanization. The city has pursued a gradual recovery since the 1980s, becoming a major national center for healthcare and the arts by the early 21st century.
context_section_description: Ralph S. Locher became Celebrezze's successor in 1962. Although Locher made some strides, such as expanding Hopkins Airport, his tenure was strained by new challenges facing the city. By the 1960s, Cleveland's economy began to slow down, and residents increasingly sought new housing in the suburbs, reflecting the national trends of suburbanization following federally subsidized highways.  Industrial restructuring, particularly in the railroad and steel industries, resulted in the loss of numerous jobs in Cleveland and the region, and the city suffered economically. Housing discrimination and redlining against African Americans led to racial tension in Cleveland and numerous other Northern U.S. cities. In Cleveland, this tension exploded in the Hough Riots of July 1966. Locher was becoming less and less popular and lost the 1967 mayoral primary to charismatic Democrat Carl B. Stokes. Stokes went on to face Republican Seth Taft and won the 1967 general mayoral election, becoming the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city, attracting national attention.
  As mayor, Stokes began initiating reforms to boost the city's economy and aid its poverty-stricken areas. He first succeeded in convincing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to release urban renewal funds for Cleveland that had been frozen under Locher's tenure. He also persuaded city council to pass the Equal Employment Opportunity Ordinance and to increase the city's income tax from .5% to 1%. It was also Stokes who led the effort to restore Cleveland's Cuyahoga River in the aftermath of the river fire of June 1969 that brought national attention to the issue of industrial pollution in Cleveland. The river fire was to be the last in the city's history, and it became a catalyst in the rise of the American environmental movement. Since that time, through efforts begun by the Stokes administration and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), the river has been extensively cleaned-up. In 1968, Stokes launched Cleveland: Now!, a program aimed at rehabilitating the city's poorer neighborhoods.  This program was initially highly successful. However, after the 1968 Glenville Shootout, it was discovered that Fred "Ahmed" Evans and his black militant group, who had initiated the chaos, received money from Cleveland: Now!, putting the mayor in a difficult position. Although Stokes secured re-election in 1969, the fallout from the incident as well as continued conflicts with City Council and an unpopular tax increase led him to decline from seeking a third term in 1971.
  Stokes was succeeded by Ralph J. Perk, an ethnic Czech American and the first Republican to serve as mayor of Cleveland since the 1940s. Perk benefited from good connections with President Richard Nixon, allowing Cleveland to obtain federal funds to aid neighborhoods and to help crack down on city crime in the era of Irish American mobster Danny Greene. It was Perk who proposed merging Cleveland's public transit system with those of neighboring suburbs, thus forming the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. He also greatly expanded Cleveland's international ties by initiating several sister city partnerships. However, Perk was also known for his political gaffes, such as an incident in which his hair caught on fire, and another when his wife, Lucille, famously refused a dinner invitation from Pat Nixon for her "bowling night." Additionally, the city continued to experience population loss from deindustrialization and forced-busing of Cleveland Public Schools ordered by United States District Judge Frank J. Battisti.
  In 1977, Perk lost the nonpartisan mayoral primary. Populist Democrat Dennis J. Kucinich went on to win both the primary and the general election. Kucinich was 31 when he assumed office, becoming the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city. Kucinich's tenure as mayor began with one of the worst blizzards in Cleveland history on January 26, 1978, with winds up to 100 miles an hour. In March, he suspended his newly appointed police chief, Richard D. Hongisto in a feud that 
caption: Cleveland Mayor and future Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
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