Hatcher, Richard G. (Richard Gordon), 1933-2019

<p>Richard Gordon Hatcher (July 10, 1933 – December 13, 2019) was an American attorney and politician who served as the first African-American mayor of Gary, Indiana for 20 years, from 1968 to 1988. At the time of his first election on November 7, 1967, he and Carl Stokes were the first African-Americans to be elected mayors of a U.S. city with more than 100,000 people. Hatcher also served as Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the early 1980s.</p>

<p>Hatcher was born in Michigan City, Indiana. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in business and government from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Laws with honors in criminal law in 1956 and a Juris Doctor from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1959.</p>

<p>After moving to Gary, Indiana, Hatcher began practicing law in East Chicago, Indiana. In 1961, he began serving as a deputy prosecutor for Lake County, Indiana, until he was elected to Gary's City Council in 1963. He was the first and only freshman elected president of the City Council in Gary's history.</p>

<p>Richard Gordon Hatcher, the first African American mayor of Gary, Indiana and one of the first African Americans to serve as mayor of a major city, was born on July 10, 1933, in Michigan City, Indiana. Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, Indiana in 1967 and served in that capacity for the next 20 years. In the late 1970s, he also became the executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1984, Hatcher was campaign chairman for Rev. Jesse Jackson‘s bid for president and he served as an advisor in Jackson’s 1988 campaign.</p>

<p>Hatcher’s administration in Gary was known for developing innovative approaches to urban issues and for promoting the civil rights of blacks and other people of color in one of the first predominantly black cities in the North. His term began during the period when “black power” was increasingly the rallying cry of African American political activists across the nation. Hatcher clearly identified with this new movement.</p>

<p>As a “first generation” black mayor identified with black power, Hatcher’s agenda was considered biased against non-blacks. He was believed by his critics to be racially divisive and unqualified. Hatcher often fought against the local Democratic political machine which supported his white Republican opponent over him in the 1967 election and encouraged “secession” movements by some predominantly white Gary neighborhoods.</p>

<p>Successful politician, social servant and educator Richard Gordon Hatcher was born on July 10, 1933, in Michigan City, Indiana. He received a B.S. degree in business and government from Indiana University in 1956, and a bachelor of law with honors in criminal law and a J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law in 1959.</p>

<p>After moving to Gary, Indiana, Hatcher began practicing law in East Chicago, Indiana. In 1961, he began serving as a deputy prosecutor for Lake County, Indiana, until he was elected to Gary's City Council in 1963. He was the first and only freshman elected president of the City Council in Gary's history. When he was elected as mayor of Gary in 1967, Hatcher was the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city. He remained in office for an unprecedented five terms, until 1987, when he was defeated in a bid for a sixth term. During his twenty years as mayor, Hatcher was known for developing innovative approaches to urban problems and for being a national and international spokesman for civil rights, minorities, the poor and America's cities.</p>

<p>In 1988, Hatcher started his own consulting firm, R. Gordon Hatcher & Associates. From 1988 to 1989, he worked as an Institute of Politics fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School. He also began teaching political science at Roosevelt University in 1989 and then at Valparaiso University, where he is a senior research professor, in 1991. In the summer of 1996, Hatcher taught a law course at Cambridge University in England, and since 1989 he has worked as an adjunct professor at Indiana University. As a long time friend and advisor to the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Hatcher also played a leading role in Jackson's bids for the presidency as campaign chairman in 1984 and an adviser in 1988. Hatcher has authored numerous articles about urban affairs, civil rights, politics and law and has been working on a book. Hatcher has many affiliations and memberships with various civic, urban, political and civil rights organizations and has received a myriad of awards and honors for his lifetime of dedication to his community.</p>