Early years Zeidler was born January 4, 1908, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to parents of German ancestry. He graduated from
Marquette University in 1929 and received a J.D. in 1931 from
its law school.
Political career Serving as an assistant city attorney for Milwaukee (1936–1940), Zeidler stunned the city when he upset six-term
Socialist mayor
Daniel Hoan to become mayor of Milwaukee in 1940. Hoan had served as mayor for the past 24 years. His rise to power was orchestrated by young writers
Robert Bloch (later the author of
Psycho) and
Harold Gauer, who created elaborate campaign shows. In Bloch's autobiography,
Once Around the Bloch, he gives an inside account of the campaign, and the innovations he and Gauer came up with, such as the original "releasing-balloons-from-the-ceiling"
schtick. He comments bitterly on how, after Zeidler's election, they were ignored and not even paid their promised salaries, while credit was taken by local establishment figures like
Milton Rice Polland instead. Bloch ends the account with a philosophical point:
Death and legacy in Forest Home Cemetery Zeidler's election was attracting attention on the national political scene as
World War II broke out. After a year in office, Zeidler came to believe he could best help the war effort by enlisting; he resigned his position as mayor and accepted a
Naval Reserve commission on April 8, 1942. He asked for the most dangerous job on ship and became officer in charge of a gun battery on board the
merchant ship SS La Salle. The ship and all hands were reported missing off the coast of
South Africa on November 7, 1942, sunk by a German U-boat
U-159 torpedo attack. Zeidler was officially presumed dead December 11, 1944. A gravestone cenotaph marks his plot at
Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. Carl's brother, socialist
Frank P. Zeidler, later became mayor of Milwaukee and served in that position from 1948 to 1960. Carl's mayoral papers are archived at
Milwaukee Public Library. ==See also==