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becoming the second Maryland Governor to hold the post in the Con- ference's 64 year history. At a Democratic Governors' caucus during the same meeting, the Democratic Party's National Chairman, Lawrence F. O'Brien, an- nounced that Governor Mandel had been selected to make a major ad- dress on behalf of the Nation's Democratic Governors at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami. Governor Mandel also is Chairman of the Southern Governors' Con- ference Committee on Transportation, Science and Technology. Although the Democratic Governor likes to describe himself as a "political accident," Mandel had enjoyed 16 years in the House of Delegates—six of them as Speaker—before becoming Governor. Governor Mandel was born April 19, 1920, in Baltimore. He attended Pimlico Elementary School, Garrison Junior High School, and was graduated from City College in 1937. He went to the University of Maryland and then to the University's Law School, receiving his LL.B. in 1942. He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and was an instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground and at Texarkana, Texas. He served until 1944. He began his legal career after the end of his service in World War II. He soon formed a partnership with Stan Franklin and they later established the law firm of Mandel, Gilbert, Rocklin and Franklin. Mandel remained a member of this firm until he was elected Governor. His political career began in 1950 when he served as a Justice of the Peace in Baltimore City. He was also a member of the Governor's Commission on the Municipal Court for Baltimore City. In 1951, his friend. City Councilman Samuel Friedel (Congressman from 1954 to 1971) asked him to run for the Democratic State Central Committee. He agreed to run as a favor to Councilman Friedel. His election win began an unbroken string of victories extending to the present. In January of 1952, he was selected by the Democratic State Central Committee to fill a vacancy in the House of Delegates from Baltimore City's Fifth District. In 1954, with the support of Baltimore City's Mayor, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., he was elected Chairman of the City's legislative delegation, He was elected to the House of Delegates in the general election of 1964, and was re-elected in 1958, 1962 and 1966. He soon became Chair- man of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. In 1958, his committee investigated the office of the Baltimore City Police Com- missioner. In 1963, he was elected Speaker of the House of Delegates and was re-elected every year until he became Governor. Governor Mandel's leadership in the General Assembly was often described as "quiet and cautious." He received national recognition for his legislative leadership and was a member of the 10-man Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislative Leaders. As Speaker of the House, he commissioned the Eagleton Institute of Political Science, of Rutgers University, to study ways of modernizing the General Assembly. Afterwards he implemented the bulk of the Institute's recommendations, making Maryland one of the states lead- ing in the reform and modernization of state legislatures. In July of 1968, he helped organize a National Committee of State Legislators behind the presidential candidacy of Hubert Humphrey. Earlier that year, he was elected Chairman of the Democratic Party's State Central Committee. 8 |
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Maryland Manual, 1973-74
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