Episode 258 MAYOR HIRSCH ( Part 5 ) Mayor of Myrtle Beach 1973 - 1977 ( 6 - Part Special Series )

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In this episode, in our special series, looking at the career of former Mayor Robert Hirsch, we look back at his arrival in Myrtle Beach and his single term as Mayor. It was a term of extraordinary accomplishment, much of which may not be as well known by the public in general today.  Myrtle Beach today is the fastest growing region in America, a far cry from where it was in the early 1970s.

When Mayor Hirsch was elected in 1973 , the City of Myrtle Beach was operated under an entirely different form of government than it is today.  In that time the Mayor ran the city and each council member ran a separate department of the city government.  That system was the first thing Mayor Hirsch worked to change, leading a movement that changed the form of government to the type of city government structure we have today, a Council-Manager form of Government. Where a professional Manager runs the day to day operations of the city and the Mayor and Council are a policy setting body.  When that referendum was held in the early 1970's the citizens of Myrtle Beach voted for it overwhelmingly. 

Mayor Hirsch also led the way to adopting the zoning and building code document that has served as the foundation for the way the city operates to this day. He worked with Senator Strom Thurmond and Congressman John Jenrette to get joint runway use for commercial flights to begin coming to the City of Myrtle Beach, opening up an entirely new way to bring tourists into our community.  It is hard to imagine the city of Myrtle Beach even functioning without those three major initiatives, that Mayor Bob Hirsch spearheaded, not being in place. They are so integral to how the city functions that they are often today taken for granted as a given. 

When Mayor Hirsch left office he was immediately recruited by the new Republican Governor in the State, James Edwards, to head up the Energy Department for South Carolina and later to join his staff. His work in that realm actually contributed greatly  to Jim Edwards being selected to go to Washington D.C. to lead the Energy Department under President Ronald Reagan. For a brief time there were even calls for Bob Hirsch to run for Governor of South Carolina.  However, Bob Hirsch decided to come home to Myrtle Beach where he would serve another term as a city councilmember here a decade after leaving Columbia.

Bob Hirsch would also through out the next half century serve as the Chairman, and as a  Board Member of the South Carolina Hall of Fame, and under his leadership it became one of the highest honors available for any citizen to achieve in our state, to be inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. 

In this episode we will listen in as Mayor Hirsch recalls the moments in those years that made all of that possible. 

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