Oscar Nelson

Who was Oscar Nelson?

Oscar Nelson was a Chicago City Alderman, one-time Auditor for the state of Illinois, and interim president of the Building Service Employees International Union, the precursor of the Service Employees International Union, in 1927.

Nelson was born in Sweden. He emigrated to the United States and got a job as a delivery boy. He held employment as a grocery clerk, foundry worker and railway worker, but finally went into the banking industry and eventually became president of the Geneva State Bank and head of the Kane Co. Bankers' Association.

Nelson became a Chicago alderman in the early 1920s. He was accused in 1933 of having links to Al Capone, but the charges were never proven.

Nelson succeeded the union's founding president, William Quesse, a close friend and political backer who had died of cancer on February 16, 1927. Nelson resigned due to health concerns on September 3, 1927. Jerry Horan, a BSEIU organizer whose primary job was to act as Quesse's chauffeur, was elected Nelson's successor on September 6, 1927.

A Republican, Nelson was appointed a member of the Republican National Committee's platform drafting panel in 1937.

He was elected state treasurer in 1922. In 1924, Nelson won election as the Auditor for the state of Illinois and re-elected in 1928. In 1931, Nelson was tried on charges of malfeasance for refusing to close banks even though he knew they were in poor financial condition. Nelson was acquitted after a state court ruled juries had no jurisdiction over state officers.