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Jim Rivaldo (April 15, 1947–October 17, 2007) was an American political consultant. A gay man, he worked with Harvey Milk to establish the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club. He was a consultant and graphic designer for Milk's 1977 campaign for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He and Dick Pabich ran a political consulting company. He consulted Kamala Harris's 2003 campaign for San Francisco District Attorney.

Early life

Jim Rivaldo was born on April 15, 1947. He was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He had an older brother, Joseph, and a sister, Jane. According to Joseph, he became interested in reading the news as a child. In high school, he was the student body president. He studied government at Harvard University, graduating in 1969. He wrote for The Harvard Lampoon for four years, leading its 1968 parody of Life magazine. He initially aspired to become a politician but gave up when he realized he was gay. After graduating, he worked for the New Left magazine Ramparts. After coming out as gay, he moved to San Francisco in December 1971.

Career

Work with Harvey Milk

Rivaldo befriended Harvey Milk in the early 1970s after patronizing his camera store. The store hired Rivaldo as a human billboard. Upon learning of Rivaldo's interest in politics, Milk asked him to be his political strategist. Rivaldo analyzed voter lists and accompanied Milk on his campaign stops. He edited his speeches and brochures. Rivaldo, Frank Robinson, and Danny Nicoletta worked on Milk's 1975 campaign for San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Though Milk lost, Rivaldo noted that he had won in the Castro and Haight-Ashbury districts, telling Milk, "We got the hippie, McGovern, and fruit voters."

Milk and Rivaldo decided to found the San Francisco Gay Democratic Club (now the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club) with the goal of getting Milk a seat on the Board of Supervisors. They envisioned it as an antithesis to the Alice B. Toklas Memorial Democratic Club, which did not push for gay people to be represented in government. Rivaldo and Dick Pabich worked on Milk's 1977 campaign, which won. Rivaldo designed a popular campaign sign with the words "Milk Supervisor/5". In 1978, he designed brochures opposing the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned homosexual teachers in public schools. Milk appointed him to San Francisco's coastal commission.

When Milk was assassinated at San Francisco City Hall, Rivaldo was the last person to see and talk to him, besides the assassination's other victim, George Moscone. Rivaldo recalled, "Harvey and I were going to go to the bank at Golden Gate and Polk. He said, 'Let me finish up a few things and I'll be right back.'" The day before the assassination, he had spoken with Milk about a potential 1983 mayoral campaign. Rivaldo worked on funeral arrangements. For the fifteenth anniversary of the assassination, Rivaldo designed a plaque to mark the site of Milk's camera store.

Later campaigns

Rivaldo has said he designed the world's first brochure on safe sex around 1982.

Rivaldo and Pabich founded a company that consulted California political campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s. Rivaldo worked on all of Michael Hennessey's campaigns for San Francisco Sheriff from 1979 until Rivaldo's death. In the 1999 San Francisco mayoral election, he consulted Willie Brown's campaign. He also approved of Brown's opponent, Tom Ammiano, whom he had previously worked with. He managed Dennis Herrera's 2001 campaign for City Attorney of San Francisco. Herrera, an underdog candidate, won after a runoff. Other campaigns he consulted included Ella Hill Hutch, Bevan Dufty, and Sophie Maxwell.

Rivaldo worked on Kamala Harris's first campaign, running for District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003. Harris credited Rivaldo for winning the election. She said in a 2024 interview, " was just family. In fact, my mother took care of him as he was sick and dying." In the 2003 San Francisco mayoral election, Rivaldo did not work on any campaign but supported Gavin Newsom.

On September 25, 2007, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave a commendation to Rivaldo and, posthumously, Pabich. The board said the two "were instrumental in electing a new kind of politician—openly and proudly gay with roots in progressive neighborhood activism. To far less fanfare, Jim helped elect every San Francisco African-American candidate in the 1970s and 1980s." Rivaldo spoke at the ceremony, saying his biggest pride was working with Milk.

Personal life and death

Rivaldo was known as the "Mister Rogers of the gay liberation movement" for his gentle demeanor. He made little money compared to other campaign managers. He lived in the Western Addition district of San Francisco for a long time. At the time of his death, he lived on Bush Street.

Rivaldo had AIDS, hepatitis C, liver cancer, and diabetes. The AIDS Housing Alliance provided him an apartment and a caretaker. After a year of declining health, he died of liver cancer on the afternoon of October 16, 2007. He died at his home with family members present. A public memorial was held on November 15.

Legacy

Writing for The Bay Area Reporter, Shum Preston, an associate of Rivaldo, called him a "great gay genius lost to history". He was a depicted as a minor character in the biopic Milk, on which he was a historical consultant.

References

1. ^ Wildermuth, John (October 18, 2007). "Jim Rivaldo - political consultant brought Harvey Milk to office". SFGate. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
2. ^ Laird, Cynthia (October 17, 2007). "Political strategist Jim Rivaldo dies". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
3. ^ Faderman 2018, p. 103–104, "Strike Two".
4. "Life Lampooned". Nashua Telegraph. Associated Press. October 8, 1968. p. 10 – via NewspaperArchive.
5. Black, Jason Edward; Morris, Charles E. (2013). "Introduction". An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings. University of California Press. p. 22.
6. Faderman 2018, p. 134, "Victory!".
7. ^ Preston, Shum (August 10, 2016). "The gay genius who gave us Milk and Harris". The Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
8. ^ Morse, Rob (November 26, 1999). "Same old City, but different, 21 years after horror". San Francisco Examiner. pp. A-1. ProQuest 270507793 – via ProQuest.
9. Morse, Rob (May 21, 1995). "What if we still got Milk?". San Francisco Examiner. p. 16. 270372192 – via ProQuest.
10. Faderman 2018, p. 220, "Aftermath".
11. Caen, Herb (November 24, 1993). "Tales of the Town". San Francisco Chronicle. pp. C1.
12. Coile, Zachary (November 12, 1999). "San Francisco Activist Eyes Mayoralty: Gays, Socially Conscious Back Ammiano in Runoff with Powerful Brown". Chicago Tribune. p. 31. ProQuest 418917417 – via ProQuest.
13. Kane, Christopher (June 4, 2024). "Vice President Kamala Harris details what's at stake in November". Washington Blade. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
14. Oliver, David (June 13, 2024). "Kamala Harris chats with 'Queer Eye' cast on LGBTQ+ progress: 'Let's keep going'". USA Today. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
15. Glionna, John M. (May 25, 2003). "S.F. Mayor Hopefuls as Diverse as the City". Los Angeles Times. pp. B.1. ProQuest 421803649 – via ProQuest.
16. "Memorial Tonight at 6 p.m. for Jim Rivaldo". SF Weekly. November 15, 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
17. Erhart, Julia (Summer 2011). "The Naked Community Organizer: Politics and Reflexivity in Gus Van Sant's Milk". a/b: Auto/Biography Studies. 26 (1): 158. ISSN 2151-7290.

• Faderman, Lillian (2018). Harvey Milk. Yale University Press. doi:10.12987/9780300235272-008. ISBN 978-0-300-22261-6.

• American campaign managers
• LGBT rights activists from California
• Activists from San Francisco
• American graphic designers
• Harvey Milk
• Kamala Harris
• 1947 births
• 2007 deaths
• 20th-century American LGBTQ people
• LGBTQ people from San Francisco