John Purroy Mitchel

Who was John Purroy Mitchel?

John Purroy Mitchel was the 95th mayor of New York from 1914 to 1917. At age 34 he was the second-youngest ever; he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York." Mayor Mitchel is remembered for his short career as leader of Reform politics in New York, as well as for his early death as an Army air officer in the last months of World War I. Mitchel's staunchly Catholic New York family had been founded by grandfather and namesake John Mitchel, an Ulster Presbyterian Young Irelander who became a renowned writer and leader in the Irish independence movement.