Andrew James Peters

Peters was born on April 3, 1872, in Jamaica Plain, a neighborhood of Boston. His family had been in Massachusetts since the first Andrew Peters arrived there in 1657. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School.

Peters served two terms in the Massachusetts State Senate (1904, 1905). In 1906, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he would serve from 1907 to 1914.[4]

In 1914, Peters was appointed to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under William Gibbs McAdoo in the first administration of President Woodrow Wilson. Peters served there until 1918, when he began his term as Mayor of Boston, having defeated incumbent James Michael Curley in the 1917 mayoral election. Peters' term as mayor is remembered for his handling of the Boston Police Strike in 1919.

Peters was considered for Governor of Massachusetts later in the 1920s, but was not nominated.

Peters' reputation suffered because of his relationship with a young relative of his wife. He had married Martha Phillips in 1910, and together they had six children. Mrs. Peters cousin, Mrs. Helen Faithfull, had a young daughter named Starr Wyman, later Starr Faithfull, who attracted Peters' attention in 1917. He began to sexually abuse the 11-year-old Starr[5] and paid money to her mother and stepfather to keep the story quiet. Starr died under mysterious circumstances on Long Island in 1931. The story came out,[6] damaging Peters' reputation, despite his denials of it.

The circumstances of Peters' relationship with Starr Faithfull eventually became part of the material used by John O'Hara in his novel BUtterfield 8. Peters also plays a key role in Dennis Lehane's novel The Given Day.

Peters died of pneumonia on June 26, 1938.[7]

• Timeline of Boston, 1900s–1920s
• 125th Massachusetts General Court (1904)
• 126th Massachusetts General Court (1905)

• Goodman, Jonathan.: The Passing of Starr Faithfull. (London: Piatkus, c. 1990) ISBN 0-86188-844-8
• Russell, Francis.: A City in Terror, 1919: The Boston Police Strike (New York: Viking Press, c. 1975) ISBN 0-670-22449-9
• Russell, Francis.: The Knave of Boston & Other Ambiguous Massachusetts Characters (Boston: Quinlan Press, c. 1988) (pp. 68–84: "The Mayor and the Nymphet") ISBN 0-933341-79-2
• City of Boston Statistics Department The Municipal Register for 1918 (1918) p. 2.

• United States Congress. "Andrew James Peters (id: P000251)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

• Nadel, Norman (September 30, 1977). "Author speculates death accidental". El Paso Herald-Post – via newspapers.com.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrew James Peters.

• Peters election results at ourcampaigns.com
• Andrew James Peters at Find a Grave