Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago
Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago features oral history interviews with people who knew or worked with Daley, who served as Chicago's mayor from 1989-2011. The interviews reflect on how the mayor balanced two sometimes conflicting goals. The first was to keep Chicago livable, to ensure it remained an attractive place for families of diverse backgrounds. The second goal was to enhance Chicago’s position as a global city, ready to take on the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Peter Cunningham, friend of and former speechwriter for Mayor Daley, conducted the interviews. The interviewees include most of the mayor’s chiefs of staff, some of his deputy chiefs of staff, a number of his political advisors, and persons who headed city agencies during his tenure. Also included are family members, community leaders, some critics, and former United States Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
The exhibit also features photographs and other materials from the Richard M. Daley papers, the Richard J. Daley collection, and other archival collections housed at the Special Collections and University Archives, University of Illinois at Chicago Library. See About this Exhibit for more information.