B – Battle Creek Enquirer Tallies Louis Cleage’s Votes

For this year’s A to Z Challenge, I will be posting an event for that date involving someone in my family tree. Of course it will also involve the letter of the day. It may be a birth, a death, a christening, a journal entry, a letter or a newspaper article. If the entry is a news item, it will be transcribed immediately below. Click on photographs to enlarge in another window.

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On April 2, 1951, my uncle Dr. Louis J. Cleage ran for the University of Michigan Board of Regents. I had no idea until I found a newspaper item in The Battle Creek Enquirer. He did not win but received 3,547 votes.

Battle Creek Enquirer, Battle Creek, Michigan • Wed, Apr 18, 1951Page 7

I am just going to transcribe the paragraph with the Board of Regents votes, bottom first column, top of second, above:

“Regents of the University, (two Regents elected): Roscoe O. Bonisteel, Republican, 409.966; Leland I. Doan, Republican, 410,302; Murray D. Van Wagoner, Democrat, 315,955; Wheaton L. Strom, Democrat, 258,214; Arthur L. Leach, Prohibition, 7,173; Roville L. Heltzel, Prohibition, 5,899: Louis J. Cleage, Progressive, 3,547; Richard Fox, Progressive, 3,818; James Sim, Socialist Labor. 1,591; Theo A. Grove, Socialist Labor, 1,641; Howard Lerner, Socialist Workers, 1,181; and William H. Yancey, Socialist Workers, 1,182.”

Romanul American Detroit, Michigan · Saturday, March 31, 1951. Dr. Louis Cleage, second from right.

I was surprised to find that a Romanian Newspaper seemingly has him on their slate of candidates. I can’t be sure as I do not speak Romanian, but it looks that way to me.

C.D. Gallant-King to the rescue with a translation! “The faces of some of the candidates that the newspaper recommends you support, through your vote, in the April 2 elections in the state of Michigan.”

In 1951 Dr. Louis Cleage was 36 years old. He and his father, Dr. Albert B. Cleage SR shared a practice at Cleage Clinic. He lived at 2270 Atkinson, Detroit, Michigan with his parents and five of his siblings – Henry, an attorney in private practice; Hugh, a postal worker; Barbara secretary/receptionist at Cleage Clinic and Anna who was a pharmacist at Cleage Clinic. Two siblings had married and lived out of state. They were my father, Albert jr and Gladys.

Cleage Clinic as it looked after being closed.
2270 Atkinson about 1949.

Other posts about Louis Cleage

L – Louis Cleage
Uncle Louis Plays the Organ – 1956
Louis Cleage – W8AFM
Building Louis’ Cottages – Idlewild 1943 to 1945
Y Is For Louis Cleage’s Yacht – late 1940s
X is for X-Ray – Story of Louis Cleage’s Puffy Finger – early 1940s
Dr. Louis Cleage Proves Billy Eckstine’s Voice Influences Blood Pressure

14 thoughts on “B – Battle Creek Enquirer Tallies Louis Cleage’s Votes

    1. It was a nice house. Louis and his brother Hugh lived there until the 1990s when they moved to Idlewild, Michigan and then South Carolina to live with their nephew. It’s still a nice house but the neighborhood has fallen on hard times.

  1. Interesting story, would google translate help with the Romanian Newspaper? Maybe he was respected by the Romanian community rather being Romanian and was sympathetic to their community.

    1. My husband suggested the same thing, about google translate, but I knew one of my readers would be able to translate it for me and low and behold, C.D. Gallant-King did!
      Maybe he did have some Romanian patients but I never heard about it. Or maybe they favored the Progressive party. We’ll never know. Sigh.

  2. “The faces of some of the candidates that the newspaper recommends you support, through your vote, in the April 2 elections in the state of Michigan.”

    The Michigan Romanians had good taste!

  3. That’s so interesting about the Romanian paper. Really enjoyed getting to see the house & clinic ~ I’m gonna go look for more posts about the Cleage Clinic now!

  4. Wow–your uncle must have been an upstanding citizen, to run for UM’s Board of Regents as a young man with a medical practice as well. I’m amazed that the two Progressive candidates did so well in 1951, in the McCarthy era. It must have been wonderful to come across this newspaper clipping. What were you looking for when you found it? How much we don’t know about our elders, simply because they never told us or we never asked! Thank goodness you taken the trouble to find out.

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