Mid-Mod Mayor: How Raymond Tucker Shaped St. Louis

Raymond Tucker was one of the most consequential mayors St. Louis ever experienced. In the dynamic postwar era of urban renewal and mass suburbanization, St. Louis voters elected this civil engineer to be mayor. Tucker, a son of Carondelet, led the effort to replace worn-out urban infrastructure with modern interstates and modern housing. In addition to the dramatic changes to the physical form of cities, American society and culture were also shifting and Mayor Tucker faced the changing times with a modern, pragmatic attitude. He helped St. Louis confront the intransigent issues of race, gender, poverty, and opportunity. But any public official of consequence is not without controversy and Tucker was not without his detractors. Dr. Andrew Theising will discuss this historical St. Louis figure with a presentation of his new book, Mid-Mod Mayor: How Raymond Tucker Shaped St. Louis.

Andrew Theising, Ph.D. is emeritus professor of political science at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. As a political scientist, Theising has grounded his work in the historical record and has focused on the political and economic legacy of industry in American cities.