My Story

The once proud City of Beverly,Massachusetts was on the brink of receivership in 1993 when the city's voters overwhelmingly elected a new mayor, a man with absolutely no political experience, Bill Scanlon.Nearly twenty years earlier this same man had been transferred to Beverly by his employer to drastically downsize United Shoe Machinery (USM), the city's largest but failing business. The upshot was the layoff of half of the more than 1,400 employees for whom he was responsible during eighteen months of turmoil. Yet in 1993 the voters put the
leadership of their troubled city in his hands. Bill Scanlon would go on to be elected a record eight more times while the city would undergo revival and prosper under his guidance as mayor. Herein is the remarkable comeback story of Bill and the "Garden City" of Beverly.