If you've ever wondered how Chicago got where it is today, this is the book for you. An almost essential read to understand how the Daley's got and kept their power.

This book focuses on how Daley's power as Chairman of the Cook County Democratic party was like being the king of two countries. The Cook County job opened just as many doors as being Mayor of Chicago.
Going with the King analogy, he was not one to forgive and forget. The book goes into extreme detail about the logistics of how he both awarded and rescinded his favors. The section that begins in 1960- through the 1968 Riots was filled with just the right amount of details.



What you won't find is any real information about the personal lives of the Daley clan. That's okay with me. I was all in for the political scoop.
( )

Anyone interested in American machine politics (peripd), and especially of the history behind 1968 Democratic National Convention and / or the Anti-war Movement...must read this as well! ( )

"to wound the autumnal city.
So howled out for the world to give him a name
The in-dark answered with wind."
-Samuel Delany, Dhalgren, opening lines

"Every time I go to Chicago, I leave with scars."
-Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

The dynastic name, Richard Daley, inspires a sort of Pharaonic reverence and scorn. His public works and urban projects and sheer power manifest are contrasted with those who hated him. Of course, unlike the mythic Pharaohs of old, he did not make his projects with slave labor. Instead, he tacitly favored the marginalization of blacks and a system of segregation against which the Civil Rights movement struggled for years.

He was an Irish Catholic, in a city where the European immigrants identified by their ethnicity, and the Catholics by their parishes. He once worked in the Jungle of stockyards, and kept his accent all his life. His style was not that of raw youthful charisma like Kennedy, but of the slow momentum and determination that committee work requires. Never forget a face. Always remember favors. Give them back. Gifts to the loyal constituents, from donuts to larger project work.

The patronage system of American cities was not invented by him, but he was one of its last and most illustrious practitioners. He was first able to do the drudge work that few others would try, and was adept at building multi-ethnic coalitions, and a 'black submachine' (term used by the author). Cohen builds a remarkable history of the early machine, to serve as a backdrop to his political ambitions.

His tenure as mayor, second-longest in the city's history, is studded with public works projects. The (once) busiest airport in the world, North America's largest convention center, North America's tallest building. With the tools of a democracy, he sculpted the city in ways petty totalitarians only dreamed of. Subways, universities, apartment blocks.

His tenacious campaigning helped deliver Illinois to Kennedy in 1960. There are still rumors that he stuffed ballot boxes and delayed votes to win his party ally the state. one wonders what might have happened if Nixon was around instead for the Cuban Missile Crisis. If he was in Dallas.

Daley was kingmaker, a prize of the party and the nation.

Then we see 1968.

It was supposed to be his showcase. Showing off this gleaming new city for the convention, which had avoided the ignominy of the Rust Belt, which was still a shining American beacon. Had avoided the white flight of the other Midwest cities and still grew.

And then Martin Luther King the prophet was shot. And the country disintegrated a little further and there was no one left to fight Nixon and there was fear and war. He had no idea what the people wanted. It remains uncertain if he ordered the police in, and Fred Hampton was shot to death, but Daley's people, his collectors and machine men, may have, and someone may have given the order to open fire and then-

Nixon won his day. But Daley survived. Was mayor until he died.

His son was mayor for longer than he was, but on a smaller scale. His nephew and other relative worked for Clinton and Obama. And his city is still strong, segregation and projects notwithstanding (although they still stand barely, and East Chicago still fights.

Daley stands, not wanting money as his associates did, but only more power to shape the city. Scandals may have gotten his associates, but not himself. He stands as an archetype of American mayors, good and bad, and one certainly not to be ignored. ( )

3374. American Pharoah Mayor Richard J. Daley: His Battle for Chicago and the Nation, by Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor (read Nov. 28, 2000) This is a well-written book, and Daley's life is full of events of high drama. Some of the events described are of interest only to Chicagoites, I suppose, but while I sometimes was on the same side as Daley nationally the account of what went on under his machine's rule of Chicago cannot help but distress. I found the book a powerful argument for a better way of selecting and retaining judges than prevails in Illinois. ( )