Edward Lawrence Bader (8 June 1874-29 January 1927) was Mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (R) from 1920 to 1927, succeeding Harry Bacharach and preceding Anthony Ruffu.
Biography[]
Edward Lawrence Bader was born on 8 June 1874 at a seven-acre farm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of German immigrants. Bader left the Wharton School of Business after just one year to become a member of the Latrobe Athletic Association, the first football team in the United States. In 1904, he became a contractor when he repaired Steel Pier after a storm, and he became the owner of a successful construction company. Bader became a Republican Party politician, and he ran for Mayor of Atlantic City in 1920 after Treasurer Enoch Thompson decided that Harry Bacharach, the incumbent, had too many scandals to continue as mayor. Thompson used his friendship with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union to secure the female vote for Bader, and Chalky White gave Bader the African-American vote. Bader won the election thanks to Thompson's political organizing, and he held the first Miss America pageant, denounced the Ku Klux Klan, implemented decency laws on public beaches, and built a convention center in the city, working together with Thompson to achieve great things. He died in office in 1927 due to a stomach ailment.