Pittsburgh has had mayors who died on the job, who left for higher office, who were impeached, who were forced to quit over corruption charges and who were in jail when elected.

Mayor William N. McNair's decision to resign was unique, the Post-Gazette reported on Oct. 7, 1936. "It is without precedent for the city's chief executive to resign when no charges of misfeasance, malfeasance or other improper conduct are standing against him," the paper said.

Mr. McNair, a Democrat, unexpectedly quit on Oct. 6, after 34 stormy months in office. His unlikely election in 1933 had ended 28 years of Republican rule in Pittsburgh. But no sooner was he elected than the hot-tempered mayor began to alienate almost all of his fellow Democrats, including Allegheny County Party Chairman David Lawrence and his party's top office holder, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

"I put him in and I'll take him out," Mr. Lawrence said of Mr. McNair, according to the Post-Gazette. "He ended his term as mayor, as he had conducted the city's affairs, abruptly, amazingly, and without warning of what was to come," the paper reported.

The proximate cause of his resignation was City Council's refusal to confirm his candidate for city treasurer. Mr. McNair told reporters he quit because council's opposition to him was halting city operations: Employees were not being paid, business affairs were blocked and the water department was running out of soda ash, a chemical used to neutralize the mine acid in municipal water.

Mr. McNair had a reputation for personal honesty and a passion for economist Henry George's single-tax system.

"[H]is name was anathema to gamblers, racketeers and others of the easy-money gentry who found money tight because he insisted on running a clean and honest administration," the paper said.

"His first innovation in office was to sit in the rotunda of city hall so he could be seen and meet all citizens who came to see him. He soon gave that up, because he found 'getting closer to the people' meant getting mobbed."

Henry George's "single-tax," or land tax, called for keeping taxes high on land -- but not improvements like houses or stores -- and eliminating or reducing other government levies, including tariffs. Mr. McNair named his fellow single-tax enthusiasts to several city posts. When council declined to pay them, he held a payroll benefit for raise money for their salaries.

He sought the spotlight. He played the violin on local theater stages and was heard on national radio programs with crooner Rudy Vallee and with Major Bowes, host of a popular amateur hour. One photo included in coverage of his resignation shows him behind bars in the county lockup. He was jailed for two hours on April 20, 1936, after he refused to sign a check that would repay the operator of an illegal lottery -- "a numbers writer" -- who had successfully appealed his $100 fine to Common Pleas Court.

He remained upset about the incident, and he took out his anger on Elliott Roosevelt, the son of the president, when their paths crossed a few days later. "Tell your old man I am out of jail," he told young Roosevelt after refusing to shake his hand.

Mr. McNair resigned the morning of Oct. 6. He immediately left the City-County Building and returned to his old law office across Grant Street in the Bakewell Building.

When Mr. McNair quit, Council President Cornelius Scully became mayor. He served until 1946, when he was followed by Mr. McNair's old foe, David Lawrence.

Mr. McNair never again held public office. He died Sept. 9, 1948, of a heart attack. He was 67.

First Published: April 18, 2010, 8:00 a.m.