Tom Bradley (mayor)

A former police officer, Bradley was Los Angeles mayor for twenty years from 1973, built a multiracial coalition and transformed downtown into a financial centre. He secured the 1984 Olympics, run privately and at a profit, and started the Metro Rail system against long odds in a car city. His relationship with the semi-independent police chief Daryl Gates was tense, and the 1992 unrest after the Rodney King verdict led to the Christopher Commission and charter reforms limiting the chief's tenure.