J. Palmer Gaillard Jr. 1920-2006

Former Charleston Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard Jr., who during his 16-year tenure steered the city through dramatic expansion of its borders across the Ashley River, civil rights struggles and downtown building projects that paved the way for Spoleto Festival USA and tourism, was killed in a traffic accident Friday. He was 86.

Friends and family were devastated by the unexpected death of the Charleston political legend, who ran the city from 1959 to 1975 and was known as a dedicated family man, an astute business leader, a straight-talking politician and an adept Navy aviator in World War II.

"I think you have to look at his life in totality," said his oldest son, J. Palmer Gaillard III. "He was a great patriot. He was a very strong-willed leader. He loved to give back to his community. He was rooted in family values and he loved his city, state and country. He was a true public servant."

Gaillard lived on Montagu Street in downtown Charleston and was said to be in excellent physical health, driving his own car, tending his treasured tomato garden and spending hours on end in his woodworking shop crafting cabinets. For his 75th and 85th birthdays, his family arranged for him to fly in vintage World War II fighters. Gaillard happily took over the controls at times and did loops in the Lowcountry sky.

Gaillard's three sons, Palmer and his brothers William Foster Gaillard and Thomas Huguenin Gaillard, gathered with other family members Friday at their father's house, struggling to grasp a tragic end to such an accomplished and dynamic life. Gaillard's wife of 57 years, Lucy, died in 2001.

Earlier Friday, Gaillard was pulling out of the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant near the intersection of Sam Rittenberg Boulevard and Orange Grove Road. His family said he had been getting a haircut at a nearby barber shop. Gaillard was making a left turn, attempting to go south on Sam Rittenberg, when the Buick LeSabre he

was driving was struck by an oncoming Ford F350 pickup truck.

Charleston police said the front of the truck slammed into the driver's side of the LeSabre, trapping Gaillard inside the car. He died at 10:46 a.m. en route to Medical University Hospital, Charleston County Deputy Coroner Dottie Lindsay said. An autopsy was still under way late Friday, but Gaillard appeared to have received mostly internal injuries in the crash, she said.

The truck's driver, William Douglas Lewis, 46, of Charleston, was shaken up by the crash but uninjured, police spokesman Charles Francis said.

An initial investigation indicated that Gaillard failed to yield the right of way. Nothing indicated excessive speed was involved. No charges have been filed in the crash.

Gaillard was born in Charleston on April 4, 1920, and, according to historian Robert Rosen, "was the descendant of a long line of stubborn, hardheaded Huguenots." After attending public schools, he enlisted in the Navy in December 1941, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He served on active duty for four years, first as an enlisted man and later as a commissioned officer. He was an aviator who flew newly made fighter jets and other aircraft.

Gaillard was elected to Charleston City Council in 1951 and was re-elected in 1955. In 1958, a friend, Huger Sinkler, suggested he run for mayor. Gaillard said he agreed the city needed a new mayor but felt he wasn't the best man for the job. Soon, other friends urged him to run, and Gaillard wrote in his memoirs, "Lucy and I talked a lot about my running, and she said that whatever I did, she would back me, but 'Please don't worry so much that you make yourself sick.' " Backed by some of the city's most prominent lawyers, he waged a vigorous and successful campaign against incumbent William McG. Morrison.

Morris Rosen served as corporation counsel (now called city attorney) during Gaillard's mayoral administration. "He had a hot political race with Bill Morrison, and he wasn't favored to win. But I think it was in his campaign that he mentioned that he wanted to expand the city limits."

One of Gaillard's first initiatives as mayor was to cross the Ashley River and lay claim to thousands of acres west of the Ashley, adding more than 10,000 residents to the city. "The city hadn't expanded its boundaries for a hundred years," Rosen said, "and I thought it would be difficult to convince people on the other side of the bridge. But he worked and worked, and I think the reason it went over was because people thought Mr. Gaillard was straight and honest and would do what he said he would do."

In 1973, Gaillard reached across Wappoo Cut and gave Charleston a foothold on James Island. "It's the best thing that ever happened to the city of Charleston," Gaillard once said in an interview. "I annexed territory every year I was mayor."

Gaillard planted the seeds of modern Charleston and its international reputation as a marquee tourism destination, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said. Without the city's aggressive annexation strategy, "Charleston today would be a shadow of what it is," he said. He also pointed to the building of the downtown auditorium that bears Gaillard's name. It opened the door to Charleston winning Spoleto Festival USA, Riley said. "Had the auditorium not been built, Spoleto would have never happened. We needed that facility because we had no other large venues. That was always underappreciated what that auditorium did for Charleston."

Like the auditorium project, many of Gaillard's greatest accomplishments were the result of hard-fought political battles.

Gaillard also was responsible for revitalizing the City Market by brokering a controversial property deal. "The market area was pretty rough, and that development changed it and gave it economic energy and brought people there," Riley said.

Gaillard wrote in his memoirs, "Boards to Boardrooms," that his toughest moment as mayor came in 1969, when he dealt with an 11-week garbage strike that idled most city garbage trucks as workers demanded more pay and a five-day workweek. "It was tough and draining, and the ideas that many people suggested to end the strike ranged from one extreme to the other," the book says. "Most were so impractical that it was hard to believe that intelligent people would advocate such ideas!"

He wrote that his saddest moment in office came on Sept. 11, 1974, when an Eastern Airlines jet crashed in Charlotte, killing 30 Charleston area residents. "That was a tough time."

Gaillard was re-elected mayor three times before resigning in 1975 to accept an appointment as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Reserve Affairs). He remained in the federal post for two years before returning to Charleston to become vice president of Ruscon Corp. He remained with the company until his retirement in 1985.

Doug Donehue was city editor of The News and Courier during Gaillard's administration. The two sparred frequently in those days but later became close friends.

Donehue said the mayor was tenacious and had no qualms about calling to complain about articles he didn't like. "It was challenging. He was very astute and he knew Charleston better than anybody. He was no-nonsense then, you didn't joke around with him. We had some pretty good scrapes. If there was any flaw in a story, he would let me know about it."

Gaillard's tenure came during the height of the civil rights movement. Before he was elected mayor, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sued the city over its segregationist policies at the municipal golf course. When Gaillard took office, he ordered city attorneys to resolve the lawsuit as quickly as possible, and the golf course became the first integrated city facility in South Carolina. During lunch counter sit-ins in the 1960s, Gaillard made sure protesters weren't mistreated. In 1969, hospital workers and protesters held a strike at the Medical University of South Carolina that The New York Times called "the country's tensest civil rights struggle" at the time. Though many protesters were jailed, Gaillard and his new police chief, John F. Conroy, would be praised for their moderation. Unlike other civil rights battles, no one was injured.

State Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said that, "unlike most Southern mayors, Mayor Gaillard made every attempt to reach a common ground and was deemed a fair and decent man."

"When the golf course issue came up, he said, 'We're going to integrate it,' " Morris Rosen said. "When we had all the marches and picketing, he handled it with the greatest discretion a man could have. He wasn't going to put up with police officers beating people up, and he made sure they knew that. We prosecuted, but we did it properly. I think this was his greatest accomplishment."

His public accomplishments were many, but friends also cite his legacy as a mentor and role model.

Randell C. Stoney Jr. said he remembered when Gaillard ran a lumber company off of East Bay Street. "I was 4 or 5 at the time. He had the unusual characteristic of being able to have friendships across generational lines. He was a dear friend of my grandfather, Tom Stoney, who was mayor in the 1920s, a devoted friend of my father and a dear friend of mine." Stoney described Gaillard as "a genuinely happy man" who "loved good wit. He liked to needle people, and he took needling well." He said that, though Gaillard didn't seek public office later in his life, "he was very involved in charities and contributing to the community. People sought his advice, and he was a surrogate father to many people. And, he was still on top of his game. There was not one neuron that was out of line upstairs."

Robert L. Clement Jr. was appointed assistant city attorney in 1960. "He was a man of unflinching integrity, a person who would not back down from a position he felt was correct."

Jim Stelling worked with Gaillard in the 1970s when they were executives with Ruscon Construction. "Palmer was 30 years my senior, and he was my mentor, to be honest. He loved young people, and we learned a lot from him, and that was truly a gift." Stelling said Gaillard had a "wonderful ability" to analyze problems and come up with commonsense solutions. "He was a gentleman, a dear friend and a bedrock of integrity."

Reflecting in 2004 about his motivations for writing his autobiography, Gaillard said in an interview that his wife's death caused him to re-evaluate his own mortality. "I woke up one morning and I lost my wife and I realized how fragile life was."

 

J. Palmer Gaillard Jr.

BORN: April 4, 1920
MARRIED: July 15, 1944, to Lucy Foster of Charleston. They had three sons: J. Palmer Gaillard III, William Foster Gaillard and Thomas Huguenin Gaillard.
1941: Enlisted in the U. S. Navy and served in World War II as a pilot.
1947: Established Seaboard Lumber & Supply Co.
1951-1959: Served two terms on City Council.
1959-75: Served four terms as mayor of Charleston.
OCT. 20, 1975: City Council passes a resolution naming Gaillard Municipal Auditorium after him.
1975-77: Served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Reserve Affairs).

 

Gaillard on Gaillard

From thoughts in ' Boards to Boardrooms,' Gaillard's memoirs:
ON HIS YOUTH: 'My high school, sailing and flying days were the most adventurous years. ... From those years I learned that friends are the most important asset that a man can have.'
ON EXPANDING THE CITY'S BOUNDARIES: ' It was my sincere hope that during 1960, we would be successful with our annexation plans and, if so, in my opinion, it would be the greatest and best year the old city ever had.'
ON CIVIL RIGHTS MARCHES IN THE 1960S: 'My position remained the same throughout the entire time. ... The marchers, so long as they were not violent, had the right to march.'
ON THE 1969 HOSPITAL STRIKE: ' We were determined to meet any unlawful force with overwhelmingly lawful force.'
ON HAVING THE CITY'S AUDITORIUM RENAMED IN HIS HONOR:
'Naturally, I was pleased but I was also completely surprised.'
ON HIS LIFE: 'Others may have had more resources and education but none have had a better or happier life than I.'

 

Glenn Smith of The Post and Courier contributed to this report.

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