William Emmett Dever (March 13, 1862 – September 3, 1929) was an American politician. He was the mayor of Chicago from 1923 to 1927. He had previously served as a judge and before that an alderman. As an alderman and judge he would work to become the Democratic candidate for mayor for over two decades.
Born in Massachusetts but moving to Chicago in young adulthood, William Dever became an alderman and prominently supported municipal ownership of mass transit. He was a member of the Dunne wing of the local Democratic party.
As mayor, he focused on reform and infrastructure during his tenure. Later he would turn his attention to the enforcement of Prohibition despite his personal opposition to it. Such enforcement was initially effective, but indifference from government at other levels limited its efficacy and the lower amount of alcohol increased violence among bootleggers, souring Chicagoans' view on it. Losing to William Hale Thompson in 1927 over the issue, he is the last Democratic nominee in a partisan Chicago mayoral election to lose. Never in particularly good health, he retired from politics after the election and would die of pancreatic cancer two years later.
Early life
Dever was born in Woburn, Massachusetts and entered his family's leather tanning business when he was fifteen. He left Woburn in 1882 and moved to Boston, where he was based while he traveled on tannery business for two years. During this time Dever met Katherine E. Conway and they married in 1885. The two would go on to adopt two sons during their marriage. Dever was elected as a steadfast supporter of municipal ownership of the city's streetcar services amid the Chicago Traction Wars. He would maintain this position throughout his aldermanic tenure, and continue it into his later mayoralty. He had a clean voting record and was frequently endorsed by the Municipal Voters League in his runs for reelection. This led some to contend that Dever should be seated to a two-year seat in his place, arguing that holding separate elections for the different durations had been unconstitutional. This election was to a partial term of four years. McSurely refused to take a stance on the traction issue, due to the fact that the court might soon review the Settlement Ordinances. receiving more than 98,000 votes.
Several months into his third term on the Cook County Superior Court, Dever was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Appellate Court. This resulted in Robert E. Crowe, the Cook County state's attorney, opting to instead administratively dismiss the charges (nolle prosequi) and opted instead to present the case to a grand jury again for new indictments, to buy more time to put together a case and gather evidence. The new trial instead landed before judge Hugo Friend.
Mayoral term
thumb|Dever circa 1924
Dever was sworn in on April 16, 1923.
Transit
Early into his mayoralty, Dever had begun making plans to improve the city's public transit, which he had previously made a central issue in his mayoral election campaign. Dever began also formulating plans for transit expansions and the construction of a subway.
Dever launched a major law-enforcement campaign to crack-down on bootlegging.
Infrastructure
Dever's term in office saw many improvements to the city's infrastructure, including the completion of Wacker Drive, the extension of Ogden Avenue, the straightening of the Chicago River This was in contrast to Dever's predecessor, William Hale Thompson, under whose previous mayoralty the schools had been tarnished by politics and fraud.
Early into his mayoralty, Dever appointed seven new members to the Chicago Board of Education. The Dever-shaped school board sought to find a superintendent that would strengthen the educational authority of the office, cut fiscal waste, and improve educational standards.
On December 5, 1926, in a surprise move, Mayor Dever broke his neutrality amid a school board dispute, he sided with Alderman Leo M. Brieske's position that it would be preferable to see McAndrew replaced with a new superintendent. Dever declared that he believed the superintendent should instead be a native Chicagoan, declaring, "I am heartily in accord with Alderman Brieske's stand that Chicagoans should fill Chicago offices. We have plenty of capable persons at home, without bringing in outsiders". McAndrew remained superintendent, however.
On March 28, 1927, The New York Times wrote that,
1927 mayoral election
thumb|alt=An image of Dever atop the skyline of Chicago accompanied by the question "What kind of a city do you want to live in?" and paragraphs of text.|Ad run by the "Independent Republican Dever Committee" in the [[Chicago Tribune in support of Dever's 1927 reelection campaign]]
thumb|125px|Dever's grave at Calvary Cemetery
Dever ran for re-election in 1927 against "Big Bill" Thompson, who defeated him by 83,000 votes.
Later years
Dever went on to serve as a vice-president of a local bank, but took a leave of absence and died of cancer in 1929. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois.