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• 1 2021-02-02T14:42:45-06:00 Introduction to Man on Five 58 plain 2021-07-01T09:58:04-05:00 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.”
  From his office on the fifth floor of City Hall, Daley was a hands on mayor who reveled in his work and celebrated his city. He responded to the countless letters and memoranda that landed on his desk each day. He created and monitored the city's vast budget and oversaw dozens of the city departments and programs that made the city function. 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 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:
  Daley won all his re-election bids handily. But his closest one came in 1963, when his margin against Republican Benjamin Adamowski was 55 percent. Mayor Daley talks to reporters after it became clear he won:
  
• 1 2021-02-01T14:05:06-06:00 Vote for Daley 22 plain 2021-07-01T12:09:43-05:00

  In those days, there were no advisors. Today, you go down to a political campaign. There’s a chief of staff and all of that. But it was my mother. Then, when he came in, he would talk to her. Her advice was very good. I’m sure it was the same with most of the political wives. But nowadays, they have all of these pollsters and so many people involved with the candidate. Everybody is telling them what to do.
  
  Mary Carol Vanecko, daughter of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, March 5, 2009

  Watch campaign ads from Richard J. Daley's first (and successful) run for mayor: Mayor Daley won all his re-election bids handily, but his closest bid for re-election came in 1963, where he won a sizeable but less than anticipated 55 percent of the vote: