Decline of the Philadelphia Republicans With the death of
Thomas Sovereign Gates in 1948, the last of the "old Philadelphia" upper-class leadership of the Republican Party was gone. That left Meehan,
William F. Meade, and
Morton Witkin as the remaining powers in the party organization. Meehan's wealth gave him some advantage over the other two, but none of the three was strong enough to control the entire organization, and intra-party feuding was often the result—as was an increase in "indiscriminate graft," according to author James Reichley. By this time, Meehan's contracting business was more successful, as well, as it received contracts for much of the city's street paving. was the site of Meehan and Dilworth's 1949 debate.
In 1949, the Democrats, led by Dilworth and city controller candidate
Joseph S. Clark Jr., mounted another campaign focused on corruption. Dilworth claimed that Meehan was bribed by the local utility companies, though he did not present any evidence of the charge. Meehan dismissed the two Democrats as "Dilly and Silly". He and Meade drew attention to the
Americans for Democratic Action, a left-wing group that backed the Democratic ticket, which Meade said was "infiltrated with communists." This time, Meehan and Dilworth did debate before a packed house at the
Academy of Music, as well as over the air on radio and television. The debate soon turned to an exchange of insults, with the personal morals of both politicians being criticized. Unlike in 1947, the Democrats won all of the races on the ballot by 100,000-vote majorities. After the defeat, relations worsened between Meehan and Meade, leading to an open split by 1950. Dilworth and Clark ran again
in 1951—this time for district attorney and mayor, respectively—and painted Meehan and his associates as irredeemably corrupt while endorsing the recently approved city charter. The campaign was successful and led reform-minded voters to abandon the Republican Party, resulting in sweeping losses in the 1951 mayoral and council races. The Democrats won nearly every election on the ballot in 1951, including sheriff. Meehan did not run for a third term.
Head of the party The
1953 elections saw Meade and Meehan enter rival slates in the primaries, with Meade's faction coming out on top. Meehan backed the primary victors in the general election, and the result was a surprise victory in the city controller and register of wills offices that were on the ballot that year. After the election, Meade joined with the Hamilton brothers of
Roxborough's 23rd ward to place William Hamilton Jr. at the head of the city committee. However, Meade and Meehan soon both tired of Hamilton, and replaced him with the newly elected register of wills,
Robert C. Duffy. By 1954, they were again at odds over the distribution of federal
patronage. The
1955 election saw a return to bad fortune for the Republicans as Dilworth succeeded Clark as mayor. The next year, Meehan backed David E. Watson—against whom he had run in the primary for city treasurer in 1937—for city committee chair; Watson defeated Duffy, who was Meade's choice for reelection. Watson died four months later, but Meehan's choice of
Wilbur H. Hamilton prevailed. In 1957 Meehan, by then the predominant force in Philadelphia Republican politics, resigned as leader of the 35th ward and
John F. Kane (Meehan's son-in-law) was elected in his place. In 1959, Meehan's choice for mayoral nominee, former Minnesota governor
Harold Stassen, was selected in the primary, but he lost overwhelmingly to Dilworth. He was selected to head the Pennsylvania delegation to the
1960 Republican National Convention, but increasingly came under attack from independent Republicans who wanted a change from "
bossism." ==Death and legacy==