He saw government and public service as the way to accomplish something. It wasn’t a means to make wealth as the private sector is. It was the means to do something for somebody else. Sure, there’s an ego in it. Yes, there is success. You move up. You’re a county clerk, then you become the mayor. That’s fine. But he taught us by both example and in word that you can do things in government that you can’t do in the private sector, and people in the private sector don’t do. They don’t look out for the little guy. They don’t look out for the greater good.

William Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, December 5, 2008

I think he brought, Mayor Daley, the original Mayor Daley, brought to the city a sense of pride and leadership when it came to the infrastructure and building the city, and the vision of the city that we’re still profiting from. This is a great American city. I happen to think it’s the greatest, and not just because I represent it. But managing to balance all of the different elements within the city—ethnic elements, religious elements and the like—I thought that really took a special skill.

Richard J. Durbin, United States Senator, interview excerpt, September 8, 2014

The city council in Chicago was always a “strong city council, weak mayor.” It was not that Ed Kelly [Chicago mayor, 1933-1947] or Martin Kennelly [Chicago mayor, 1947-1955] were weak. But the city council had its say. And you didn’t get much done unless the city council said it should be done. [Daley] changed all of that by saying, “I say that it should be done. And this is what’s going to happen.”

Richard Elrod, Chief Prosecutor for City of Chicago, interview excerpt, April 10, 2009

I was at the mayor’s office when Dr. King came in. What surprised me the most was – first, the room was filled with ministers, elected officials, his aides, and department heads, and people were talking – but when Dr. King came in, the silence he brought into that room and the command. And he was not a tall man. I was shocked, but I remember the quietness. As soon as he entered the room, it became quiet. And then he sat right across from my dad. They discussed the problems in the city that he came to address. And he said, “Dr. King, we’re willing to work with you, we will work this out.” And they came up with a plan, my dad and him. They announced it.

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

It was a tough period in the ‘60s with the open housing marches in the middle 1960s. You had Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marching on the southwest side, and the mayor was largely responsible for helping to develop the agreement that provided for open housing.

James O’Connor, Executive at Commonwealth Edison, interview excerpt, July 22, 2014

And so I think his inspiration initially on public housing might have been right, to get people into new, in those days, new dwellings, even high-rise public housing. But also it was to make sure that the black and white problem was going to be contained within certain areas. As that public housing disintegrated, you could tell this was not the answer.

Richard J. Durbin, United States Senator, interview excerpt, September 8, 2014

I think that he was against high-rise housing all of the time. He didn’t think that the high-rise housing was a good idea.

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

The ones that bothered him were the high-rise public housing. He said, “Father, we had this problem and we went to the experts to ask what to do. And they told us to build these high-rise things. It was the biggest mistake I ever made. We would just pile a slum on a slum. And they were just terrible.” But that bothered him tremendously. But he said, “We didn’t know any better.” And most of them are gone now.

Father Gilbert Graham, Daley Family Friend, interview excerpt, November 17, 2003

But there was no doubt that the mayor knew what was going on in every part of Chicago. He knew when people died. He went to their funeral. When they had a baby he would write a note to the parents. He was a hands-on politician who loved politics and who loved his city. And in my opinion he was an honest man. He never did profit financially from his enormous responsibility and influence and power.

Jimmy Carter, President of the United States 1977-1981, interview excerpt, October 17, 2014

He was a great wake-goer, and the families appreciated that. My own father died. I thought that it was wonderful he came. He paid his respects to the people. But that’s the type of man that he was.

Gene Nolan, Security Detail for Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, September 3, 2004

His precinct captains meant a lot to him. And in fact in our file in the back we had a three by five card of all the precinct captains, by ward, and every year he would send them a Christmas card, which was nice. People enjoyed it, you know, liked having that. In fact I’m sure they still have them.

Kay Quinlan, Richard J. Daley’s Personal Secretary, interview excerpt, August 7, 2014

Mayor Richard J. Daley, with Democratic [Day] at the Illinois State Fair, which was always a big event. And he, in those days, would literally bring down trainloads of people. They would have a train coming down from Chicago that would leave at 8:00 in the morning and would be taken directly into the fairgrounds. It didn’t stop at some train station and transport people. They would go directly into the fairgrounds. And they would stop the train, and all of these folks from all the ward organizations, the township organizations, would pile out of the train and they would then march around the infield of the state fairgrounds carrying signs, “The 42nd Ward Regular Democratic Organization Proudly Supports Mayor Richard J. Daley,” you know, and they would march around.

Richard J. Durbin, United States Senator, interview excerpt, September 8, 2014