#OTD in 1995 #MarionShepilovBarry Returned To #TakeTheOath for his 4th Term As #MayorMarionBarry of #WashingtonDC . The caustic & charismatic former 60's & 70's #CivilRights leader had lost much of his sheen and the mayor gig he'd held since 1978 a few years earlier, due to having "violated the public trust" and serve a #FederalPrison sentence after being videotaped smoking #CrackCocaine in a hotel room #StingOperation set up by federal agents.

When Marion Barry left prison in 1992, he was met by six church busloads of supporters who prayed for him and cheered him on, and the seasoned slickster quickly re-ascended DC's political ladders and Barry's supporters unfurled the reassuring #CivicMinded #CampaignSlogan "He May Not Be Perfect, But He's Perfect for D.C."

As Barry ran for his fourth term for mayor, it shocked outside observers and when his critics brought up his past felonious failings, they were told "#GetOverIt ". Union Temple Baptist #MegaChurch Reverend Willie Wilson who helped organize the #MillionManMarch on Washington during Barry's 4th mayoral term said of him ″People are often stigmatized because of transgressions they may have committed and many times observers don’t realize that a human being is an imperfect thing, #MarionBarry, while not being perfect, has many good qualities that can be used to the benefit of the #community.″

Barry's #triumphant #SecondHoneymoon #VictoryCelebration was short lived, as the city, which had been plagued by #corruption scandals, and led the nation in homicides under his last two admittedly #DrugAddled terms as #Mayor, was now amidst a spiraling 90's #BudgetCrisis, and over a billion in debt since he'd last held the reigns of power. Barry's first accomplishment was to float a bond and get #WallStreet to lend the city $250 million to keep the empty city coffers paying bills.

Newt Gingrich's #GOPControlledCongress soon stripped #theChocolateCity of its symbolic vote on the house floor, and the #ClintonAdministration assumed control of the city's operations, hiring, firing, #debt payment liabilities and day to day spending, leaving the former #HomeRule champion mayor #stripped of all authority other than #performative #oversight of of #ParksandRecreation, #publiclibraries , #DCTourism board and mostly #CeremonialDuties.

Barry declined to run again in 1998, but stayed active in #Ward8 #Soufeast #DistrictPolitics serving as an #outspoken, #controversial #CityCouncil member oft hounded by petty political squabbles, #PressScandals and #TaxTroubles for much of #TheNineLivesOfMarionBarry until his death in 2014.

To see a multimedia slideshow and better understand his enduring appeal as #MayorForLife to many citizens of DC, and how he arose from poverty to join #SNCC and emerge from the civil rights struggles in the 1960s to an indefatigable #PoliticalPower broker in the nation's capital , visit this link : https://artsandculture.google.com/story/marion-barry-mayor-for-life-dc-public-library/wwURqe0pMAhWFw?hl=en