Woodrow Wilson Goode Sr. (born August 19, 1938) is an American politician and former Mayor of Philadelphia and the first African American to hold that office. He served from 1984 to 1992, a period which included the controversial MOVE police action and house bombing in 1985. Goode was also a community activist, chair of the state Public Utility Commission, and managing director for the City of Philadelphia.
Before the primary election of 1983, Green decided not to seek reelection. Goode jumped into the race and defeated former Mayor Frank Rizzo in a racially polarized primary election. Goode went on to win the general election over former Green fund-raiser and Philadelphia Stock Exchange Chairman John Egan, the Republican Party nominee.[citation needed]
Goode’s tenure as mayor was marred in 1985 by the MOVE Bombing, in which police attempted to clear a building in West Philadelphia inhabited by MOVE, a radical back-to-nature group, whose members, under the leadership of founder John Africa, had long defied city officials by yelling slogans and statements from a megaphone, ignoring city sanitation codes, assaulting neighbors, and resisting law enforcement officers. During the attempt to evacuate the compound, police used tear gas, leading to members of MOVE opening fire on them. During the final assault on the building, the police dropped an improvised bomb made of C-4 plastic explosive and Tovex, an explosive gel used in underwater mining, onto to a bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the building. This caused the house to catch fire, and ignited a massive blaze which eventually consumed almost 4 city blocks, killed 11 people, and left 240 people homeless.
In 1987 Goode ran for reelection, winning the Democratic primary before facing off in the general election against former mayor Frank Rizzo, who had converted to the Republican Party after losing the 1983 Democratic primary to Goode. Goode defeated Rizzo 51%-49% to earn a second term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Goode
Video preservation by DDVF.com for educational purposes. Original airdate was May 1987.
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