Habhab looks back on decades of public life
He guided city growth and met dignitariesBy BILL SHEA Messenger staff writer
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When Albert Habhab announced in 1959 that he was running for mayor of Fort Dodge, he figured he'd serve one or two terms if he got elected.
He won that election, and a record-setting 14 years in office followed. During that time he introduced John F. Kennedy to thousands of people on the City Square, and had former Gov. Harold Hughes toss him out of the governor's office in the state Capitol.
He went on to serve 22 years as a judge on both the District Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Long before any of that happened, Habhab rescued a fellow soldier during World War II.
But he's rarely talked about many of those experiences.
On Wednesday afternoon, he revealed some interesting tidbits from a life of public service during a question and answer session before some 100 people at Friendship Haven. Bill Thatcher, an attorney and magistrate judge, and Walt Stevens, editor emeritus of The Messenger, asked him questions during what was billed as ''The Afternoon Show.'' It was part of Friendship Haven's program called Life Enrichment Senior Series is Making Our Retirement Exceptional.
While Habhab, 83, was the center of attention, he frequently mentioned the names of other people who he believes helped him. He said everything that was achieved while he was mayor was done by the City Council.
''I want to be real careful that you don't look at me and say 'Look what he did,''' Habhab said.
His military career
Habhab is particularly shy about describing his service in World War II.
''I hesitate because I don't want to glorify my war experiences,'' he said.
Stevens and Thatcher returned to the topic three times during the hourlong session, however.
Habhab said he was in the Army and fought in Europe. Without offering any details, he acknowledged that he rescued a soldier who ''got shot up real bad.''
He said that in 1994 he tracked down that soldier by calling everyone in Baltimore, Md., who had the same last name. He added that the soldier has since died.
Into the mayor's office
He was the mayor from 1960 to 1974. That's the longest anyone has held that office. At the time, the mayor served two-year terms. The mayor was part of a three-member City Council that included a streets commissioner and a public safety commissioner.
While Habhab was in office, the city grew in both population and land area. The city reached its highest population of 31,263 in about 1970. Its territory expanded from 5.2 square miles to 16.4 square miles.
Also during those 14 years, Williams Drive and Veterans Bridge on First Avenue South were built. The construction of the bridge was controversial because some business people believed it would do nothing but channel traffic away from downtown and toward the developing retail area on the city's east side. Habhab said he believed the bridge was necessary to avoid the bottleneck created by the railroad crossing on Fifth Avenue South. After it was built, some of his critics labeled it Habhab's Hump.
While he was mayor, Dennis Milefchik was promoted to city clerk. Milefchik was a fixture in that office for 40 years until he retired in 2000.
Habhab recalled that Commissioners Herb Conlon and Ed Gillespie were eager to move Milefchik from deputy city clerk to city clerk. He wasn't so sure, however.
''He was a timid, skinny little fellow and I didn't think he had the get up and go to handle that office,'' Habhab said.
He changed his mind after learning that Milefchik had turned away two people who had asked for things from the city government that, he said, they weren't entitled to.
The former mayor said he summoned Conlon and Gillespie to his office and said ''Let's hire Denny Milefchik.''
JFK and the governor
On Sept. 22, 1960, Kennedy, who was then a senator from Massachusetts seeking the White House, spoke to an estimated 15,000 people on the City Square. Habhab introduced him. He later got a thank you note from Kennedy, which he still has.
On his way to the Fort Dodge Regional Airport following his speech, Kennedy stopped to talk to a farmer. Photographers swarmed around the two and pictures of their meeting were widely published, according to Stevens.
The encounter was hardly spontaneous, Habhab recalled. He said it was ''kind of prearranged.''
He added that former Gov. Herschel Loveless missed Kennedy's speech because his plane was not given permission to land in Fort Dodge.
Gov. Hughes and the IBP strike
Unionized workers at the IBP plant went on strike in 1965 and the walkout became violent. Habhab said former Gov. Harold Hughes, a man he described as plain spoken and often profane, called representatives of the union, management and city government to Des Moines. Lengthy discussions that accomplished little followed, and the governor was getting exasperated, Habhab said.
He described what happened next:
''Finally out of complete frustration Hughes said 'Would all of you blankety-blank lawyers get out of my office? All I want is the union and management in here and I'll settle this.' A few people got up and left. Then Hughes looked at me and said ''Mayor, aren't you a lawyer?' I said yes, and he said 'Get your blankety-blank out of here.' So out I went.''
Within hours, Hughes brokered a deal that ended the strike.
Serving as a judge
Habhab was appointed to the bench in the 2nd Judicial District in March 1975. He said that district covered 10 or 12 counties including Webster County. In 1987, he was appointed to the Iowa Court of Appeals, His fellow judges there elected him to chief judge. He served there until retiring in 1997.
He said the State Department once invited him to travel to Pakistan at federal government expense to meet with judges and lawyers there. But he missed the trip because he got sick just days before he was to leave. That, he said, was ''one of the real disappointments of my life.''
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net
