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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 think 1968 was a key year, if not the most important, in recent history. And people forget how tense things were, how fluid. One of my memories from that week was being at home and seeing jets fly overhead. Military jets. And at the office, there were all these maps of the city laid out. There were maps like this of Vietnam, and now there were maps of Chicago. People forget how close the country was to tearing itself apart. Chicago suffered some of its worst race riots during the 1960s, most notably in April 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

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

The April 1968 riots

Democratic National Convention

Well, do you know what? Everybody played their parts. The mayor played his part. The police played their part. The protestors played their part. The media played their part. And it all blew up. The pot finally boiled over. It had been boiling and bubbling. And terrible things had happened around the world in 1968. The whole thing blew up and boiled over in Chicago for those five days. Nobody was killed. In his mind, the city didn’t riot. The outsiders rioted.

William Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, January 12, 2009

I believe that some forward planning could have averted the disaster that happened. I don’t know.

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

After the convention, the mayor’s office was getting sacks upon sacks of mail. The sacks would probably fill this entire room with mail from around the country saying, “God bless you.”

Ed Bedore, City Budget Director, interview excerpt, May 18, 2009

The Eastern liberal media that came to Chicago to cover the convention didn’t like Daley. They didn’t like his reputation. But after the convention, Daley could never be defeated. The people of Chicago viewed him as standing up almost like a paterfamilias concept and protecting his city. And he truly did love Chicago, and he wanted nothing more than to be the mayor of Chicago. He could have been Secretary of HEW or whatever if he wanted to, but he never wanted to leave Chicago.

Ed Burke, Alderman, interview excerpt, August 5, 2014

And I think his greatest contribution to the city was UIC. That was the toughest political decision. But it was the best thing.

Richard M. Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, March 11, 2009

He always talked about it. And then, when it came to fruition, with the protestors, it was very controversial, with the march around the house, and all that they said about my dad. It was hard. But he knew in his heart that that was good, because he loved education so much. He went to night school. He didn’t have it easy. In those days, that’s what they did. And they worked very hard.

Mary Carol Vanecko, daughter of Richard J. Daley, March 5, 2009

He’d drive past when it was first under construction. I think it was based on his experience, how long it took to get his college degree, how long it took to get his law degree, and the expense of it. He was fortunate. He was an only child. His father worked. I think he saw the hardships that it brought on a lot of other students. He felt that the city and the state should put a major campus here in the city. And it had to be located somewhere where there was the best sources of public transportation. That was always his issue. Building it in the boondocks, where you had to have a car, would exclude so many kids. It had to have good access to public transportation.

Michael Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 21, 2006

The opportunity for kids who couldn’t go for a full year, live in a dorm somewhere, and not have to worry about work, for a university to provide as good of an education as was possible for a student was what his dream was. And the university is well on its way to do that.

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

Daley felt that it would enable people to more conveniently get that higher education and that they wouldn’t have to travel. And I’m sure that was one of the principal motivators.

George Dunne, Cook County Board President (1969-1991), interview except, December 16, 2003