"The Situation in San Francisco," by James D. Phelan - 1906
"Rejoices at the Fall of Schmitz in 'Frisco" - 1906
Phelan Leads Move to Relocate Chinatown - 1906
Sen. Phelan Attacks Prohibition - 1929
Phelan's Home at Villa Montalvo
Without previous political experience, Phelan was elected Mayor of San Francisco for three two-year terms beginning in 1897.
In the immediate aftermath of the Great Earthquake and Fire, Phelan was an enthusiastic advocate of the plan to relocate Chinatown to Hunters Point.
He was president of the San Francisco Red Cross and Relief Corporation, and was designated by President Theodore Roosevelt as custodian of those funds, which amounted to nine-million dollars.
He was elected United States Senator in 1913 and served one six-year term. Senator Phelan died at his country estate Villa Montalvo, Montalvo, California, August 7, 1930.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, Phelan toured the United States in 1907 to assure capitalists that San Francisco was a safe place to invest money for the city's rebuilding.
Fear that the earthquake, and subsequent graft trials, were injurious to the city's reputation, he gave numerous interviews including one to the "New York Post" which laid out the causes of the graft investigations, and another to the "Boston Herald" where he articulated his rabid anti-Japanese views.