Remembering Richard J. Daley

New Rules for the Democratic Party

In the months leading up to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, the Democratic Party, hoping to ensure greater minority representation, adopted new rules for how delegates to its convention would be chosen.

When the convention opened in Miami Beach, Florida, the party refused to seat the fifty-nine Chicago delegates elected in the Illinois Democratic Party primary. Mayor Daley had slated those delegates, and the party leadership claimed that the slating process had violated the new rules. Instead, the party seated an alternate slate of delegates.

Where I think he tended to make mistakes, it was that I think he had a fairly narrow group of advisors who were sometimes afraid of him and sometimes would be ‘yes’ men. I mean, somebody should have gone to the mayor and said, “These Democratic rules are a big problem. You’d better get on this thing.” Nobody did. Somebody should have gone to him before the convention and said, “You’re going to have a big problem here.” I don’t know that he welcomed some strong contrary advisors. But they certainly weren’t there. There was nobody who would say, “Mayor, you’re making a huge mistake here. Just wait a minute.” I don’t think he had that. So I think that was an error.

Newton Minow, Chair of Federal Communications Commission 1961-1963, interview excerpt, October 2, 2003


My dad was thrown out of the convention. But that did not stop him from helping the McGovern candidacy. And I think if you look at it, Cook County was one of the few counties that had any activity for him after the convention for McGovern, and one of the few counties that carried him in the 1972 election. As I look back that changed the party and brought a number of new people and great diversity to the party.

John Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, May 9, 2007

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