15 Facts About Theodore McKeldin

Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin was an American politician.

Theodore McKeldin was born in Baltimore as one of eleven children.

Theodore McKeldin's father had worked as a stonecutter and later was a Baltimore City police officer.

Theodore McKeldin attended high school at Baltimore City College in the evenings while working as a bank clerk during the day.

Theodore McKeldin later graduated from the University of Maryland Law School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and was admitted to the Maryland bar.

Theodore McKeldin served as vice president of the local chapter of the US Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Theodore McKeldin subsequently challenged the incumbent governor of Maryland, Democrat Herbert R O'Conor, in 1942, but lost by five points.

Theodore McKeldin ran for governor again in 1946, challenging William Preston Lane Jr.

Theodore McKeldin ran for governor a third time in 1950, defeating Lane in a rematch.

In 1952, McKeldin was a major figure among moderate Republicans who campaigned for Dwight D Eisenhower to receive the Republican nomination for President, and would deliver the principal nominating speech for Eisenhower at the 1952 Republican National Convention in Chicago.

In 1954, McKeldin was re-elected governor against president of the University of Maryland, College Park Harry C "Curley" Byrd, who had controversially resisted desegregating the university.

In 1963, Theodore McKeldin returned to public service after being narrowly elected to a second non-consecutive term as mayor of Baltimore.

In 1966, the city council voted to condemn and demolish 700 homes in the Rosemont neighborhood to build the Interstate 170 "highway to nowhere" that Theodore McKeldin had conceived with urban planner Robert Moses in 1941.

Theodore McKeldin was the first Republican governor of Maryland to be re-elected, and the only one until Larry Hogan was re-elected in 2018.

Theodore McKeldin died on August 10,1974, and is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.