Millennium City: Richard M. Daley & Global Chicago

Sister Cities

Sister Cities International was a program developed during the Cold War to promote cooperation and trade between American cities and cities abroad. Mayor Richard J. Daley brought the program to Chicago in 1960 when Warsaw became the city’s first Sister City.

When he took office in 1989, Richard M. Daley sought to revive and expand the city’s participation, hoping that closer ties to other urban centers around the world would strengthen the growing image of Chicago as a cosmopolitan, economic leader, engaged in international institutions. The mayor also hoped the Sister Cities program would bring business opportunities and tourism while highlighting Chicago’s diverse communities of many ethnic and national groups.  

Richard M. Daley more than doubled the number of Chicago’s Sister Cities as this map shows.
Mellody Hobson explains that Sister Cities was one of several initiatives meant to expand Chicago’s global connections:
This signing ceremony in the mayor’s office in City Hall added Kiev to the list of Chicago’s Sister Cities.
A program from this 2009 Sister Cities event shows that the mayor used the opportunity to promote Chicago as “A Global City.”

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