This page is referenced by:

• 1 2021-02-01T14:53:14-06:00 Remembering the Mayor 37 plain 2021-07-01T12:01:47-05:00

  He was the right person for the job at the right time. There was a tremendous demand for housing, a demand for consumer products, and a demand for expansion, with office space and everything else. And that’s exactly as I saw Mayor Daley. That’s what he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to build Chicago. He wanted to make it better. He wanted to improve it, both through construction and through education. I think the only thing that trumped his interest in doing that was his devotion to his family. He was about as family oriented a person as I think that I have ever known.
  
  Lester Crown, Financier, interview excerpt, August 31, 2009

  He will always be seen as one of the great mayors, who took a very complex, complicated city in an extremely difficult time and made it a model for the nation and the world.
  
  Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta, interview excerpt, October 20, 2014

  I think he would like to be remembered as a man who ran a tight ship and a good city. He was proud of his Chicago.
  
  Wilson Frost, Alderman, interview excerpt, November 13, 2014

  Daley was liberal. He had some blind sides on some things, particularly on civil rights, and issues like education, and to some extent in housing. The public high-rises were an example. He was a governmental activist. He was calling me and saying, ‘Why aren’t you doing more on transportation?’ So, you say liberal, yes and no. He was the boss. But he was an old time, kind of new deal type of Democrat.
  
  Adlai Stevenson III, Illinois Politician, interview excerpt, July 9, 2003

  I saw a man--a mayor who, over time, began to lose the broader popularity that he once enjoyed as a mayor. Certainly that became true within the African American community, as the African American community was seeking more opportunities across the board, and more positive respoonse out of governnment.
  
  James Compton, civic leader, interview excerpt, August 10, 2010

  When I think you look back in history as to where this city was in the 40’s and early 50’s and where it came out in 1976, it’s the city that it is now, and it’s set up now to only become a better city. And I think that foundation is what was started with my grandfather, and continued on with other mayors. But I think if those accomplishments hadn’t occurred during that time period you wouldn’t want to see what the alternative would be. So that pretty much sums up what I am most proud of.
  
  Mark G. Vanecko, grandson of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 9, 2014

  Overall, I’d give him an “A” for being the mayor. My test would be to compare Chicago with other major cities. Look around the country at major urban centers, during the sixties, seventies, and what happened. Clearly, if you look at New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Cleveland, Chicago came through those years much better than anybody else. And I attribute that, for the most part, to the mayor. So I’d give him an “A” on that.
  
  Newton Minow, Chair of Federal Communications Commission, 1961-1963, interview excerpt, October 2, 2003

  The real burst of energy and the real growth of the city happened during Richard J. Daley’s term of office. I think his motivation at all times was because he loved the city. And I think he should be remembered that way. … He brought us out of the doldrums into one of the great cities of the world. I mean, everybody likes to talk about us as a world class city. He made us a world class city.
  
  Bernard Stone, Alderman, interview excerpts, July 1, 2010

  How would he like to be remembered? The mayor would have no time for this question. He lived in the present, accepted its challenges, and recognized limitations.
  
  Richard L. Curry, Corporation Counsel City of Chicago 1970-1974, interview excerpt, November 10, 2014

  Thomas Donovan, an assistant to Daley, recalls the many legacies of the mayor:

  [H]e was a very good mayor. The city became the city that works. But was he a visionary? I mean, did he understand what was happening in those housing projects? No. And I think he totally missed the school segregation issues....He was not an integrationist. He was not a civil libertarian. He was a creature of his environment, like we all are. He was a good administrator. He was not a visionary. He was not a theorist. He was a great political leader.
  
  Adlai E. Stevenson III, Illinois politician, interview excerpt, July 9, 2003

  State legislator Michael Madigan remembers Mayor Daley as the "master of his time":
  

  He was a great leader, a great person, and a kind and generous man. He was someone who cared about the city.
  
  Thomas Hynes, State Senator, interview excerpt, March 10, 2010

• 1 2021-02-01T14:05:16-06:00 Leading the Party 27 plain 2021-07-01T12:28:45-05:00 In addition to being mayor of Chicago, Richard J. Daley was a key figure in Democratic Party politics. From 1947 on, he served as committeeman for the Eleventh Ward in Bridgeport. He also chaired the influential Cook County Democratic Party from 1953 until his death in 1976.

  When he became the ward committeeman,…he’d distribute baskets with turkey and vegetables in them. Whoever needed help, he would get together with his help and arrange some baskets to send them for Christmas or whatever.
  
  Jack Parker, friend of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, August 13, 2009

  
  Former U.S. Senator from Illinois, Adlai Stevenson III, reflects on Daley's dual role as mayor of Chicago and as chair of the Democratic Party of Cook County:
  

  He was the chairman of the party. He had an important role in slating candidates. We would go to those different meetings and watch the candidates present themselves when he was the chairman. I remember him trying to balance the ticket numerous times, statewide ballots, geographically and racially, to make sure that all of the ethnic groups were represented.
  
  John Daley, Son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, May 9, 2007

  Well, he was an organization genius. In order to be in politics in Chicago as he was growing up, you had to be part of the organization. That was the word he preferred, rather than machine.
  
  Patricia Daley-Martino, daughter of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, June 12, 2002

  Mayor Daley’s model of affirmative action—they didn’t call it that—but you had to have somebody Jewish, somebody Polish, somebody Irish, somebody black, somebody Hispanic. I mean, you had to have everybody on the ticket. And because everybody was on the ticket and Mayor Daley always won, people thought there was something bad about that. But it was really representative democracy.
  
  Andrew Young, Mayor of Atlanta, interview excerpt, October 20, 2014

  
  Daley appointed Jane Byrne as head of the Department of Consumer Sales, Weights and Measures. She was the first woman to serve in his cabinet. She later served as Chicago’s first woman mayor (1979-1983).

  That’s also where I met Jane Byrne, when I went to work for the mayor. I can’t remember what year it was, but he started to realize that women could play a very important role in an election. He said, number one, they vote. And he said I think we should have more women precinct captains. And he decided to talk to some of the committeemen and suggested they should all appoint a committeewoman. Now, a committeeman is an elected position, so some of them weren’t too happy. The mayor told them they could choose anyone they wanted. Find somebody in your office that’s competent and delegate. It didn’t go over too big with some of them. A couple of them he had to twist arms. But anyway, he started off by appointing Jane Byrne.
  
  Roseanne Bonoma, Richard J. Daley’s Secretary, interview excerpt, October 3, 2014

  This image shows the future mayor, Jane Byrne, standing in the background as Mayor Daley greets some offcials: