Today’s Almanac-April 12, 2010
On April 12, 1983 Harold Washington was elected the first African American Mayor of Chicago. I played a foot soldier’s role in the election, working my home precinct in Alderman Dick Mell’s 33rd Ward. Washington, a popular Congressman from Hyde Park with a booming voice and infectious grin, had been brought up in Mayor Richard J. Daley’s legendary Machine as a protégé of Congressman Ralph Metcalf, the former Olympic hero. But he had established a solid liberal record in Congress and was increasingly displaying his political independence. He was popular with the Black community, but also among White liberals. The Chicago political scene had been thrown into turmoil when Mayor Daley died unexpectedly in December of 1976 without leaving a clear successor. President Pro Tempore of the City Council Wilson Frost claimed the right to be Acting Mayor. Several powerful white Democrats wanted the job including Alderman Roman Pucinski, leader of the large Polish community who felt he had been promised a shot when Daley finally would step down; “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyac, a powerful leader of a block of ethnic aldermen who dreamed of becoming mayor and reigning over a kleptocracy; Park District Commissioner Ed Kelley, who commanded a powerful North Side fiefdom; and the late mayor’s son, Richard M. Daley. When none could gain the upper hand, the Council settled on Daley’s 14th Ward Alderman and floor leader Michael Bilandic under the condition that he not run in the special election to complete the last two years of Daley’s term the next spring. When the factions of the Machine could not agree on a candidate and with the possibility of multiple White candidates leaving the doorway open to a Black, Bilandic reneged on his promise. The Machine, with no good alternative, closed ranks behind him and he was handily elected in his own right in the spring of 1977. Bilandic instituted some mild reforms and introduced popular events like Taste of Chicago. His popularity was high, and he looked like a shoe-in for a full term in 1979. Then fate, in the form of the legendary Blizard of ’79 intervened. The city’s response to the disaster was a disaster itself. The city was paralyzed for days. Side streets were unplowed and impassable for well over a week. Enter Jane Byrne, a pet of Mayor Daley who had served as his Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, and who he had elevated to the largely symbolic post of Co-Chair with the Mayor of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee. With little money and almost no support within the Organization she announced her candidacy for mayor and hammered Bilandic with memorable TV commercials tying him to the blizzard. She stitched together a coalition that improbably included “Lake Front Liberals” eager to oust the remnants of the Machine, ambitious young ethics looking for their place in the sun, and Blacks bitter about how Frost was denied the Mayor’s chair. The colorful and combative Byrne, famously moved into Cabrini Green and turned Bilandic’s Taste of Chicago into just one of a series of entertainment extravaganzas including Chicago Fest. But her administration was often in turmoil as she hired and fired top officials with dizzying abandon. She allied herself with the ethically challenge Vrdolyac, who she had installed as Cook County Party Chair alienating her from her liberal support. At the same time she was also losing her black support over a series of police brutality scandals. When she tried to thwart the election of Richard M. Daley, who she believed had dynastic ambitions, as States Attorney, she was humiliated and earned the enmity of Daley loyalists. She also tried to oust another potential rival, Washington, from his Congressional seat, but could not find a credible Black candidate to run against him. After Washington won re-election he turned to consolidating all of the factions of Black politics behind him while building bridges to the disgruntled liberals and the growing Latino community. The younger Daley also entered the race. Washington and his supporters launched a hugely successful voter registration drive that added more than 100,000 new voters to the rolls, mostly African Americans and Latinos. Meanwhile both the remnants of the Machine and white voters in the ethnic Northwest and Southwest sides were split between Byrne and Daley. Washington won the Democratic primary with 37% of the vote against 33% for Byrne and a humiliating 30% for Daley, who was blamed for being a white spoiler. Panicked at the possibility of a Black Mayor, Vrdolyac tried to swing the Democratic Party ward organization behind the Republican nominee Bernard Epton. Epton had expected to be the usual GOP sacrificial lamb in the election. He was a member of the Illinois General Assembly from Hyde Park and was regarded as a liberal. But he allowed himself to become the Great White Hope as money poured into his campaign coffers and legions of Democratic Precinct Captains fanned out over White wards. His TV commercials featured the non-to-subtle slogan, “Bernie Epton-Before It’s Too Late!” My job in my mixed Polish, Appalachian White, and Puerto Rican precinct was to convince Democrats not to abandon the Democratic nominee. It was a close election. Washington won by barely 40,000 votes out of 1.2 million cast. He won 97% of the Black vote, but Epton could only command 81% of the White vote meaning that significant numbers of white liberals stayed with the party. The Latino vote was split with an edge to Washington. I remember the elation of that election night. But it would not be a smooth ride for the new mayor. Vrodlyac and 14th Ward Alderman Ed Burke led a campaign of harassment in the Council where they commanded a majority. Washington was unable to get his reform agenda enacted in the face of the rowdy Council Wars. The Vrodlyac 29 constantly blocked the mayor and his 21 supporters, including his ability to make appointments to boards and commission. Washington’s only tool was the veto, which the White aldermen could not overcome. The result as government stalemate and tongue-clicking national press coverage of Beirut on the Lake. Washington challenged the gerrymandered ward map that gave whites the majority in a long court battle. Finally the lines were redrawn and after a special election in 1986 the council emerged with 25-25 split giving the Mayor the power to break tie votes as Chair of the Council. He was finally able to move forward with his reform agenda. Washington faced re-election for a full four year term in 1987. He beat a comeback challenge by Byrne in the Democratic primary by a convincing 53.5%. In the General election he faced Vrodlyac running under the Illinois Solidarity Party banner, Cook County Assessor Tom Hynes (considered as stalking horse for Richard M. Daley) running under Chicago First, and Republican Donald Haider. Hynes withdrew from the race 36 hours before the election, throwing his support to Vrodlyac. Washington romped to victory. The power of “The Eddies” was broken. Vrodlyac jumped the Republican Party but never made a real political comeback. Ed Burke was stripped of his chairmanship of the Council’s Finance Committee. Ed Kelley was ousted from the patronage rich Park Board. It looked like the Mayor was on his way to a long and successful run. But just months later, on November 25 he suffered a massive heart attack at his desk.