The Seattle Files Ep 8: Marion Zioncheck with Jacob Burgess скачать в хорошем качестве

The Seattle Files Ep 8: Marion Zioncheck with Jacob Burgess

The podcast where local comedians learn local history. Congressman Marion Zioncheck suffered a psychotic break while in office. IG: @chrissayswords TikTok: @chrissayswords www.chrisallenvoiceover.com Marion Zioncheck was born December 5, 1901 in Kety, Poland. At the age of 3 his family immigrated to Chicago, then Seattle where they settled. The family grew up poor in the Skid Road district south of Yesler way and young Marion did what he could to help them get by. He worked as a dishwasher, fish seller, and a rat catcher where he got ten cents per rat he killed. Young Marion was tough and smart and had large ambitions to grow beyond his station in life. He attended public schools and did well. His grades were good enough to enroll in the University of Washington where he was set on becoming a lawyer. However his families poverty forced him to drop out of school to work to support the family. Four years later though, he returned to resume his studies. He hated the fraternity system and viewed it’s members as rich elitists so he organized the anti-Greek coalition. He chaired the student election committee and modernized campus politics by introducing voting machines. In 1928 he became student body president. There was a question of whether the University should use its money to build a new Athletic Pavilion or a Student Union building. He fought hard for the Student Union building and was harassed by student athletes who beat him up, shaved his head, and threw him into Lake Washington. The Athletic Pavilion prevailed, but a Student Union building was eventually built 21 years later. He graduated with a degree in law and was admitted to the bar the following year. In 1931 Mayor Frank Edwards fired James D. Ross, the superintendent of Seattle City Light. Ross was popular around Seattle and the story goes that the firing occurred over a late night dare where Ross used his popularity to challenge Mayor Edwards’ authority. Seattle City Light was city run, while Puget Power was privately run, and the two organizations competed for contracts in Seattle. Firing the head of the public utility was seen as a way of strengthening private interests and the citizenry of Seattle took issue with a politician using his position to further a private company. A recall petition was circulated for the removal of Mayor Frank Edwards and leading the charge was Marion Zioncheck, who had been running a private practice out of a small hole in the wall office. Zioncheck ran a successful campaign for the removal of Frank Edwards who was replaced by Robert Harlin who re-instated Ross as the head of Seattle City Light. The story was national news, the New York Times reported, “Mr. Edwards is out. Mr. Ross is restored to utility control. The power trust has a flea in its ear and the Moscow papers will have a good story.” Zioncheck decided to dive further into politics and ran for congress in 1932. He started his campaign speeches by saying, “I am a radical. I guess I always have been. I hope I always will be.” He won the election and became representative of Washington’s first district. The kid who grew up dirt poor, killed rats for money, and fought against what he saw as elitism in college was going to Washington D.C. A hard core liberal, he fought for his ideals in congress. When the prospect of using the National Guard to break up strikes came up he said, “People aren’t paying taxes so that the National Guard can see to it that scabs get in there and break the strikes.” He fought against racism and tried to limit large military expenditures. He was re-elected in 1934 and was incredibly popular back in Seattle, at least amongst those who didn’t loath him. Either way he was confident in the job he was doing, saying, “I’m the best congressman our state ever had.” Then everything started to started to change in 1936. New years day, 1936, Zioncheck, drunk as a skunk, stumbled into the lobby of an upscale Washington D.C. apartment house, commandeered the telephone switchboard and rung every resident wishing them a happy new year. He was arrested for drunken disorderly conduct. Keep reading at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k5ov21q13eyndwj/... #seattle #seattlehistory #history #PNW #PNWhistory #theseattlefiles