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• 1 2021-02-01T13:46:20-06:00 At the Office 36 plain 2021-02-04T17:45:15-06:00

  The mayor was never one who drank coffee at his desk. He never ate at his desk. City Hall was for business. He had a schedule where he ran appointments fifteen minutes to half an hour. He had a very heavy schedule every day. He was such a brilliant man. He almost never wrote anything down. He remembered what people wanted.
  
  Thomas Donovan, Administrative Assistant to Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, April 2, 2009

  img: [Richard J. Daley sitting behind his desk talking on a telephone, undated. RJD_04_01_0041_0003_017]
  img: [Tailor Carmen Duro fitting Mayor Richard J. Daley for a suit. Photo: Mart Studios. RJD_04_01_0015_0012_015]

  My guess is that if my grandfather were alive today, he would not be a fan of casual Fridays.
  
  Courtney Thompson, granddaughter of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, August 5, 2002

  img: [Award presented to Richard J. Daley: “Top Ten Best Dressed Men in America, the Custom Tailors and Designers Guild of America,” 1964. RJD_06_03_0021_0002_001]

  His discipline was beyond belief. He was just spot on everything. He was just always—we used to say if the mayor’s house burned down he’d come out in a suit.
  
  Vince Gavin, Security Chief for Richard J. Daley, interview except, July 19, 2014

   

  I think that all good political leaders understand that there’s a bit of theater to life. And he understood that.
  
  William Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, December 5, 2008

  img: [Mayor Richard J. Daley questioned by reporters at his desk in City Hall, ca. 1972-1976. Photo: László Kondor. RJD_04_01_0029_0014_004]

  During his time as mayor and in his public life, he held more press conferences than any other mayor. He was accessible every day. I mean, it was unbelievable. People said how he would be hiding out and things like that. He was more accessible to the press.
  
  Michael Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 26, 2006

  img: [Richard J. Daley standing at a podium with microphones, ca. 1970s. Photo: Victor Geronda, C.P.D., Graphic Arts. RJD_04_01_0016_0002_021]

  I’d go to press conferences just to see him handling them. I mean, if he didn’t want to answer a question, the press couldn’t make him answer it, and he would talk around that question so they were so confused they wouldn’t know where it started. He was always in control.
  
  James Riley, Assistant to Richard J. Daley’s Campaigns for Mayor, interview excerpt, October 30, 2014

  Mayor Daley cultivated a strong relationship with local newspapers from Chicago’s neighborhoods.
  

  There was no typical day for the mayor.
  
  There was always a riot. There was always something going on. And so you never, ever knew what. You’d think, oh, it’s going to be a peaceful day today, I’m going to do this, that and the other thing. You couldn’t do it because it was something different.
  
  Kay Quinlan, Richard J. Daley’s Personal Secretary, interview excerpt, August 7, 2014

  img: [Mayor Daley and United States Senator Charles Percy stand in large gathering with security. RJD_04_01_0017_0001_004]

  When they see the mayor in person, when he gets up before an audience. Talk about Knute Rockne. He’s the Knute Rockne of politics.
  
  Ed Kelly, Chicago Park District Superintendent 1973-1986, interview excerpt, December 11, 2003

  img: [Richard J. Daley speaking at a podium during an All Chicago Italian American Democratic Committee event, 1967. Photo: Copelin. RJD_04_01_0026_0001_001]

  He could charm anybody. He could strike the fear of God into anybody. If he was in a large room and he entered, it was a presence that he had there that just buzzed with excitement.
  
  Robert Christensen, Executive Director, Chicago Public Building Commission, interview excerpt, September 8, 2003

   

  He was very bright, had a high I.Q., and had a photographic memory. In fact, he never forgot anything. He could meet someone and would spend two minutes talking to them. If he saw that person again, there was a fifty-fifty chance he’d know their name.
  
  Richard Pavia, Chicago Water Commissioner (1973-1979), interview excerpt, June 20, 2002

  
  
  
  
  
   
• 1 2021-02-02T14:42:45-06:00 Introduction to Man on Five 9 plain 2021-02-04T13:37:08-06:00 During Richard J. Daley’s tenure as mayor, Chicagoans learned that to get something done in the city, you needed to talk to the “man on five.”
  img: [Mayor Richard J. Daley works in his fifth-floor office in City Hall, undated. RJD_04_01_0041_0001_014]
  
  From his office on the fifth floor of City Hall, Daley responded to the countless letters and memoranda that landed on his desk each day. He managed scores of city departments and programs that made the city function and created and monitored the city’s vast budget. Dignitaries, aldermen, commissioners, and other public servants made the trip to the fifth floor to pay their respects, plead their cases, and report on their successes and failures. A short elevator ride brought the mayor to the city council chambers, where he presided over a largely supportive group of aldermen. He was a hands-on mayor who reveled in his work and celebrated his city.
  img: [Richard J. Daley raises his hands in victory after winning his first mayoral race, 1955. RJD_04_01_0012_0002_025. Richard J. Daley collection, University of Illinois Chicago. ]
  
  From his day-to-day life as mayor to his working relationship with some of the leading national politicians of his day, Daley's family, friends, and former colleagues reflect on what it was like to witness firsthand his distinctive leadership style.

  He was in the general assembly. He was the minority leader in the senate. He was the Director of Revenue for the State of Illinois. He was the Cook County Clerk. Then he was the Mayor of Chicago. Whatever it took to make things happen in the government, he knew how to make it happen. He was the one who created the structure for the City of Chicago.
  
  Thomas Donovan, Administrative Assistant to Mayor Richard J. Daley

  See Richard J. Daley take the oath of office and give his first inauguration speech:
  Mayor Richard J. Daley's closest re-election bid was in 1963, when his margin against Republican Benjamin Adamowski was 55 percent. Mayor Daley talks to reporters after it became clear he won: