Hamilton Hill

"Your safety has always been my prime concern. Under my leadership, no city will be safer or more free of crime than Gotham City!"^[1]

Hamilton Hill was the mayor of Gotham City during the early years of Batman's crimefighting.

History

Hamilton Hill began as a successful lawyer in private practice. He took the same commuter train as Temple Fugate. One day, trying to give Temple some advice, he recommended that he vary his rigid schedule, unknowingly causing him to be late to an important appointment. This triggered the chain of events which led to the birth of the Clock King and a long-standing vendetta between the two.

Unaware of Temple's fate, Hill ran for public office and was elected Mayor of Gotham City. In his role as mayor, he would oversee many projects to improve the city. He supported the building of Stonegate Penitentiary with sponsorship from the Wayne Foundation, as well as the dedication of a new courthouse and improved public transport. In professional terms, he proved to be a capable politician. As mayor, he expertly dealt with a number of crises while in office. He was able to gloss over the problems he faced while in office and win re-election at least once. For the most part, he had a good if occasionally adversarial relationship with James Gordon but because of their differing approaches of solving problems the two clashed. One of these subjects was the activities of Batman, of whom Hill greatly disapproved, although Hill's opinion of Batman would change drastically for the better when the Dark Knight saved his son, Jordan Hill, from the Joker.

Temple Fugate reappeared during Hill's re-election bid. Though at first he worked to publicly discredit and embarrass the mayor, he eventually tried to kill Hill, but Batman prevented it at the final stroke. This act won Batman Hill's full trust and respect. Hill would also be saved several times later on by Batman from villains such as HARDAC, Scarecrow, Lock-Up, and once again from the Joker and Fugate.

Decades later, Hamilton Hill High School would be named in his honor.