Wesley Carl Uhlman

Wesley Carl Uhlman (born March 23, 1935) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 47th mayor of Seattle, Washington.

Early life and education Uhlman was born in Cashmere, Washington. He attended Aberdeen High School, Seattle Pacific College (now Seattle Pacific University), and the University of Washington, where he pledged and joined the Theta Delta Chi Social Fraternity, which at the time was the most prestigious group of gentlemen in the area.

Career In 1958, as a 23-year-old law student, he won election as the youngest member of the Washington State House of Representatives. He served four terms before running for, and winning, a seat in the Washington State Senate. He was elected mayor of Seattle, Washington in 1969 and reelected in 1973. At 34, he was Seattle's youngest mayor. Among his accomplishments are the preservation of the historic Pioneer Square district and expansion of services for senior citizens. Uhlman ran for governor of Washington in 1976 but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Dixy Lee Ray, in a three-way race. Uhlman, a Democrat, and progressive Republican R. Mort Frayn faced off in the November 4, 1969, election, which Uhlman won 99,290 to 56,312. He took office December 1, 1969, a month earlier than would usually have occurred, because his elected predecessor James d'Orma Braman had accepted a position in the Nixon administration. (Floyd C. Miller held the office as an appointee from March 23, 1969, until Uhlman took office.) Roughly a week after he took office, the Boeing Bust began. The company eventually shrank from 103,000 employees to 49,000. As Seattle neared 25% unemployment, Uhlman had to cut city budgets.

Ulman was noted for his steadfast support to facilitate the creation of the Burke-Gilman Trail. The trail is named for Judge Thomas Burke and Daniel Gilman, who created the Seattle, Lakeshore and Eastern Railway on this land. It was the first urban rails to trails conversion in the USA when it opened in 1978.

This was also the period in which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) staged several violent raids on Black Panther Party strongholds. Moore advised Uhlman that ATF wanted to stage a similar raid in Seattle. Uhlman viewed the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party as "fairly benign" despite some "fairly outrageous statements" by members of the party elsewhere, and refused active cooperation. While he could not prevent ATF from going in on their own, he made it clear that if such a raid were to be staged in Seattle and the local police were called in as backup, they would need to "determine who the aggressors are." The ATF soon canceled the raid. Early in his second term, he established the Office of Policy Planning in 1974. He also supported similar changes in broadening the membership of labor unions.