Word: daley
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Wedded to no ideology except Chicago's growth, Daley had close ties to labor, yet won business support with low taxes and favorable zoning. Above all, he encouraged construction. The city was transformed by expressways, rapid transit, O'Hare International Airport, new university campuses and a parade of high-rises that made the Chicago shoreline one of the most exciting in the U.S. As Daley put it in one of his malapropisms, "Together we must rise to higher and higher platitudes...
...mayor was accused of caring more for concrete than for people. Blacks complained that he was inattentive to their needs. The Daley machine was also dogged by charges of corruption. No one ever thought he was on the take himself-he lived too frugally. But he was permissive with friends and family. Criticized for steering millions of dollars in city insurance to an obscure suburban agency where his son worked, he replied, "If a man can't put his arms around his sons and help them, then what's the world coming...
...mayor's worst moments came during the 1968 Democratic Convention. Chicago was swamped with protesters, and Daley's cops moved on them with clubs flying. In convention hall, Daley imperiously called the shots; when the proceedings offended him, the mayor cut off his mike and signaled adjournment by drawing a finger across his throat. With the party in shambles at the end of the convention, Daley tripped over his tongue defending his actions. "The police are not here to create disorder," he said, more aptly than he knew. "They are here to preserve disorder...
...Daley's organization was the joy of aspiring politicians. They knew the machine would get out the vote. Daley helped win the governorship for Adlai Stevenson. In 1960 he tipped the state and thereby the election to John Kennedy. His support of Jimmy Carter just about clinched the nomination for the Georgian. But he was unable to win the state for Carter, or even to put a Democrat in the statehouse in Springfield...
...Daley seemed so indestructible that nobody was prepared for his departure. Some 15 candidates are already scrambling to replace him. A special election will be held within six months, and in the meantime, an acting mayor will be selected by the city council. Daley's successor will not have comparable clout since he will undoubtedly be denied the top party job that Daley held. Says Political Scientist Milton Rakove of the University of Illinois' Circle Campus: "The politburo takes over now. They won't let anyone have that kind of power again." For better or worse, Richard...