Mike Dow facts for kids

Michael Craig Dow (born in 1947) is an American politician. He served as the 106th mayor of Mobile, Alabama from 1989 to 2005. Many people say he was key in making downtown Mobile a better place.

Early Life and Education

Mike Dow was born in South Carolina. He had a tough childhood. His father left when he was ten, and his mother was sick. Because of this, he became a ward of the state, meaning the state looked after him. When he was about 14, his grandfather, Henry Gainous, took him in.

Dow joined the U.S. Army. He was a paratrooper and later a door gunner in the Vietnam War. He survived several helicopter crashes. But in his fourth flight, his pilot and best friend, Johnny Legg, was killed. Dow was in another helicopter nearby. After his friend's death, Dow decided to leave the military. He still keeps a special rubbing of Mr. Legg's name from the Vietnam memorial.

After leaving the military, Dow went back to college. He earned a master's degree in accounting from the University of South Alabama.

Business Career

In 1979, Dow helped start a company called QMS (Quality Micro Systems) with his brother-in-law, Jim Busby. Dow worked in many roles, including sales, marketing, and accounting. QMS made printers and competed with big companies like Hewlett Packard and Canon. It was even listed in the Fortune 500 magazine as one of the largest companies. Dow helped set up the company's sales network in Europe.

After a big stock market crash in 1987, the company had to reduce its size. It was later bought by Minolta in 2000. Before this, Dow left QMS and decided to enter politics. He joined the Democratic Party and ran for city council in 1989.

Becoming Mayor in 1989

For many years, Mobile was run by a city commission. But in the 1980s, it changed back to a mayor-council government. This was to give more people a voice. Arthur Outlaw was elected mayor in 1985. He worked with the city council to create a 15-year plan. This plan suggested building a convention center on the Mobile River to help downtown Mobile grow.

At first, Dow planned to run for City Council. But then, a former mayor, Lambert C. Mims, suggested Dow run for mayor instead. Mims promised to support him. Dow decided to run for Mayor. He presented himself as a new kind of leader. He reached out to both black and white voters. He often visited African-American churches and built a team with African-American ministers. He also campaigned against the idea of the convention center.

Dow won the election by a large amount. His victory showed a change in leadership for Mobile. He had strong support from middle-class white voters and African Americans.

Mayor of Mobile

When Dow first became mayor, he showed a strong interest in making downtown Mobile better. Even though he had campaigned against the convention center, he started to support it. Dow proposed a plan he called "The String of Pearls." These were many projects meant to help downtown Mobile grow. He continued with the plans from the previous mayor and the convention center. Dow greatly increased the money spent on city projects. He also raised the city's sales tax to 4%, making Mobile's total sales tax 9%.

During his first term, Dow worked with county leaders to build Mobile Government Plaza. This was the first building in the United States to house both city and county governments.

In 1993, Dow was re-elected with more than 65% of the votes. Some people, like City Council member Bess Rich, questioned Dow's spending. She worried about how the city would pay for all the new projects. She also thought the public should vote on big projects like building a baseball stadium for the Mobile BayBears team. Rich believed that Dow's focus on downtown projects was creating too much debt for the city. In 2001, Bess Rich ran against him for mayor, giving him his toughest challenge since his first election.

Dow also tried to expand Mobile's city limits by adding new areas, but these attempts failed. He was very popular in the city, but not as much in the suburbs. Some people in the suburbs were against his idea of expanding gambling in the state. They also worried he would raise their taxes. Over time, Dow's support among white voters changed, but he gained more support from black residents of Mobile. Dow was easily re-elected in 1997.

During Dow's third term, downtown Mobile continued to grow. In 2001, he made a deal to build a very tall building called the RSA Tower. It is now 745 feet tall. In the 2001 election, Bess Rich ran for mayor again. She challenged Dow on the city's borrowing. Dow won the election with 61% of the vote.

In his fourth term, Dow continued to work on big projects. He tried to annex West Mobile again, but it failed. He also worked on building the Alabama Cruise Ship Terminal. Dow also actively tried to bring big companies like Thyssen-Krupp (a steel company) and Boeing (an airplane company) to Mobile. During his last term, crime in Mobile continued to go down. His popularity grew as people saw the positive changes in downtown Mobile. The "Mardi Gras Park" project was also approved during this time.

Important Discussions During His Time

Vietnam Flag

At Mobile Government Plaza, there are displays of flags. One display has American state flags, and another has international flags. During Dow's third term, people noticed that the flag for Vietnam was actually the flag of South Vietnam, which no longer exists as a country. Because Dow fought in the Vietnam War, there was a small discussion about whether he had chosen that flag. The flag was later changed to the correct one for united Vietnam.

Changing the City Seal

The Mobile City Seal had been used for many years. It showed the six national flags that had flown over the city, including the flag of the Confederate States of America. This Confederate flag was on police cars and city vehicles. African-American city council members wanted to change the seal. After much discussion, a compromise was reached. The city removed the battle flag from the seal and replaced it with a different Confederate flag, the "Third National Flag."

Ties with Cuba

During Dow's time as mayor, Mobile started a "sister city" relationship with Havana, Cuba. Groups from Mobile visited Havana. This caused some criticism because the United States had trade restrictions against Cuba. However, these trips helped create connections between officials in Mobile and Havana. These connections could be helpful if trade between the two countries ever fully returns.

Election of 2005

In early 2005, Dow announced that he would not run for a fifth term as mayor. He stayed out of the first round of the election. Several candidates ran, including Samuel L. Jones, John Peavy, Bess Rich, and Ann Bedsole. Jones and Peavy were seen as candidates who would continue Dow's work.

In the first election on August 17, 2005, Samuel L. Jones almost won outright with 46% of the votes. John Peavy came in second with about 37%. Ann Bedsole and Bess Rich each received about 14%. Since three candidates were running to continue Dow's work, candidates who supported Dow's vision received a combined 86% of the votes. This meant the final election would be between two candidates who were allies of Dow.

A few days before the final election, Dow officially supported Sam Jones. Jones went on to win the election with 57% of the votes. Dow officially left office in early October 2005.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast just two weeks after the first election and two weeks before the final election. Mobile experienced hurricane-force winds and severe flooding. Many areas that had not flooded in a long time were underwater. Damage was heavy in many parts of the city. Dow was at a press conference with President Bush at Mobile Regional Airport during this time. Because Hurricane Katrina hit at the very end of his term, it did not greatly affect Dow's overall legacy. The work of recovery largely went to the new mayor, Samuel L. Jones.

After Being Mayor

After leaving office, Dow began working for his brother-in-law again, this time for a company called CentraLite. He also became involved in efforts to create the Alabama Motorsports Park, a race track north of Mobile. Dow helped secure the location for the track in Mobile County. He serves as a member of the track's board.

Political Views and Future

Dow worked to keep political parties out of city government. By the end of his time as mayor, he had support from a mix of city council members. This included white Republicans and black Democrats. His opponents were often white Republicans who had support from working-class white voters. These mixed-party groups formed because city elections in Mobile are non-partisan, meaning candidates don't run as a specific party member.