John S. Gibson, Jr.

John S. Gibson Jr. (August 11, 1902 – April 22, 1987) was an American politician, whose career spanned many decades and two states. A member of the Democratic Party from San Pedro, Gibson served on the Los Angeles City Council for the 15th district from 1951 and 1981, and did two lengthy stints as its president. Earlier in his life, Gibson's tenure as Mayor of Geneseo, Kansas made him the youngest elected mayor in the nation at the time.

Despite being politically powerful in San Pedro, Gibson ran at least three times unsuccessfully for other offices. In 1957, Gibson ran for Mayor of Los Angeles, but did not qualify for the ballot. He ran for Los Angeles County Assessor in 1962 and for the United States House of Representatives in 1968.

Early life and education Gibson was born on August 11, 1902, in Geneseo, Kansas, the son of John S. Gibson of Constantine, Michigan, and Flora Dix Gibson of Lynn, Massachusetts, Gibson graduated from Geneseo High School and the University of Kansas.

Mayor of Geneseo, Kansas After high school, he worked in his father's bank and at age 21 became the mayor of the small town of Geneseo, Kansas, the youngest municipal executive at that time ever to serve in the United States. "On the second floor of City Hall was the council and the judge's chambers," he told a reporter in 1975. "When the judge died I served in his place for about a year because I was also the mayor."

Career Gibson moved with his wife and children to California in 1926 or 1927, where he worked for his father-in-law's Long Beach dairy for a year before relocating to San Pedro, Los Angeles in 1928. He graduated from the American Institute of Banking and became president of the Citizens Bank there in 1930 and a general contractor in 1941.

Philanthropy In 1951 he was on the board of the San Pedro YMCA, director of the Pacific Southwest Region of Youth for Christ, chairman of the board of the First Baptist Church of San Pedro, treasurer of the Harbor Association of Evangelicals and a member of the Christian Businessmen's Association. He founded California's first Boys Club in San Pedro. Gibson responded to this unusual challenge by attacking Stanberry for accepting the money and for his membership in the left-wing Peace and Freedom Party. In the final vote, Gibson won with 2,748 votes to Stanberry's 1,123.

Gibson held the third-longest incumbency of any Los Angeles City Council member—30 years, after Ernani Bernardi's 32 years and John Ferraro's 35 years.

Positions

Though he often described himself as a "conservative Democrat,"

He was a self-described religious fundamentalist who "made no attempt to separate his religious beliefs from his politics." He admired Billy Graham and said he never attended a council meeting without first saying a prayer. He said his favorite Bible verse was Galatians 6:2-3, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if any one thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" a quotation read to him by his mother when he became mayor of Geneseo, Kansas.

He blocked a community plan for San Pedro for nearly twenty years "because he opposed government-mandated controls on growth."

He was the only City Council member who did not use a private office but preferred to work "elbow-to-elbow with his staff in a large City Hall room, generally in his shirt sleeves."

He at one point ordered the locking of exits from the council chamber and the posting of police guards to prevent the possible breaking of a quorum.

Personal life Gibson was married on January 16, 1923, to Mina Workman of Lyons, Kansas. They had two daughters, Marlyn Irene Buehler and Florene Dix Blackwelder.

Gibson suffered a heart attack in 1974, but "it was his wife's death in 1978 that seemed to take the biggest toll." He died at his home on April 22, 1987, when he was recuperating from hip surgery. on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Legacy In his honor, several landmarks in the 15th district bear his name. In 1973, the council unanimously voted to name a boulevard near the Port of Los Angeles after him. In 1977 a small park in front of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum at the corner of S. Harbor and 6th street was given his name, and in 1984, the municipal building ("city hall") of San Pedro was also named for him.