Richard J. Daley

In the article "Daley May Outlast Father As Chicago Mayor" by David Schaper, the political infamy of the Daley family is examined briefly. Most well known is Richard J. Daley, a long time mayor of Chicago who was, unfortunately for him, in office in 1968. He was looking forward to having Chicago be host city of the Democratic National Convention, and did not want the annoyance of long haired hippies interrupting this important event. One close friend of his stated, "He was the last of the big city bosses, he had a great pride in Chicago. He had a great love for the city. Throw into that a good measure of his Irish temper and you had a volatile mix"(Schaper). The article goes on to say that Daley's police response to the protesters' infringement on his turf was compared to that of "Gestapo"-like tactics. Deemed a police riot by a later inquiry, such handling of the convention week issues reflected poorly on the powers of Chicago and, ultimately, Mayor Daley himself.
I kind of have to agree with the article in that Mayor Daley could have handled the situation better, before and during the conflict. One news reporter from the time remembers, "There were plenty of warnings for anyone who was listening that there was going to be confrontation in the streets of Chicago. The only question was how was it going to be handled and what would the ultimate outcome of it be"(Schaper). I also thought the article was interesting in that it gave more of Daley and city's point of view and opinions of what happened. Although the majority of the nation disapproved of Daley's use of law enforcement to "maintain tight, iron-fisted control"(Schaper), most of the citizens of Chicago praised his crowd control tactics. I guess I had expected more of a negative reaction from the Chicago citizens than what I found, so that fact from the article surprised me. Overall, the article is okay. It talks a lot about Richard J. Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, both of which have been Chicago mayors and the latter not really relevant to my topic. The names got a little confusing to say the least. The article did help, though, in understanding better the city government's role in and thoughts on the riots.

Schaper, David. "Daley May Outlast Father As Chicago Mayor." National Public Radio (2008): n. pag. Web. 8 Apr 2010. .