James Aloisi

Fifteenth in a series When Boston College Dean W. Seavey Joyce flew over Boston in the mid-1950s for the first time (he was a fearful flyer), he looked down upon […]

Fourteenth in a series Boston was nearly torn apart by the forced busing experience. The palliative quality of time healed many of the wounds, as did lot of hard work […]

Thirteenth in a series Kevin White’s inauguration as mayor of Boston on January1, 1968, was held at Faneuil Hall, a departure from precedent, a signal that this would be an […]

Twelfth in a series “My chapeau is in the ring,” declared the candidate for mayor of Boston on May 1, 1967. She appeared in the Oval Room at what is […]

Eleventh in a series Ed Logue emerged from his first year in Boston as the all-powerful director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority – a man with a clear mission to […]

Tenth in a series John Collins had won an impressive, surprise victory over John Powers. It was a moment to relish, but in the long term it would become a […]

Ninth in a series When he took office as mayor, John Hynes was faced with the prospect of a dying city. He ably performed the many tasks that were required […]

Eighth in a series The Hynes Administration put the brakes on Boston’s mid-century slide, and put into place new ways of doing business in the city. Two initiatives arising from […]

Seventh in a series Writing of Boston in 1952, the author John Horne Burns began his last novel, A Cry of Children, with this observation: “It takes time and tiredness […]

Sixth in a series It was the mid-point of the century, and Boston was at a crossroads. For too many years city leaders stood by as Boston gradually lost its […]

Fifth in a series What’s important about the election of 1913/1914, what distinguishes it as a milestone in the city’s political history, is not electoral drama but electoral outcome, because […]

The election of John Fitzgerald in 1910 had significant impacts on the city and its politics. Fitzgerald’s term in office was focused on growth and building. The suburb of Hyde […]

John Fitzgerald’s defeat in 1907 to the ineffectual George Hibbard was seen as an affirmation that his two years in office were so beyond the pale that Boston voters would […]

The election of 1909/1910 represented a number of firsts and lasts: the first election where the winner would receive a four-year mayoral term; the first election under a city charter […]

The history of any city is a patchwork quilt of events, mismatched pieces that often bear no relation to one another but nevertheless come together to tell a story about […]