Harold Washington remembered

Credit: Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois

This blog is dedicated memoria in aeterna (in everlasting remembrance) to the late and great Honorable Harold Washington.

Harold Washington (April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987) was a lawyer and politician who became the first and only elected African American Mayor of Chicago. He served from 1983 until his death in 1987.

Washington graduated from Roosevelt University in August 1949 with a B.A. degree. In addition to his activities at Roosevelt, he was a member of Phi Beta Sigma.

After obtaining his B.A. Degree, Washington enrolled at Northwestern University. At Northwestern, Washington was the only black in his class. He joined six women in the class, one of them being Dawn Clark Netsch. As in Roosevelt, he entered school politics. In 1951, his last year, he was elected treasurer of the Junior Bar Association (JBA). The election was largely symbolic, however, and Washington's attempts to give the JBA more authority at Northwestern were largely unsuccessful.

Harold Washington's election demonstrated that black voters, like ethnic groups before them, were going to take power when their numbers justified it. Washington's followers were full of expectations and fervor for they had done the unthinkable in Chicago: they elected a black and a reformer to the position of mayor.

Alderman Edward Vrdolyak of the 10th Ward became the leading critic of Washington. He was as savvy a politician as Washington and a tough political infighter. Washington's election threat ended the status quo, and Vrdolyak became the rallying point of opposition. Of the old-line white machine politicians, only George Dunne, the former Chairman of the Democratic party, and his 42nd Ward allies made common cause with Washington.

Vrdolyak outmaneuvered Washington and organized the new City Council by enlisting twenty-eight other aldermen, none of them black, to oppose Washington on most major issues. Washington could command twenty-one aldermen, not enough to win any vote but enough to sustain a vote. The Washington block consisted of all the black aldermen in the Council, a few white liberals, and the alderman from George Dunne's Ward. The Council, which had behaved as a rubber stamp council under Daley, Bilandic and Byrne, now became the scene of "council wars" in which no prisoners were taken. Chicago's City Council became grand theatre as the mayor and his opponents fought with each other and almost came to physical blows on several occasions.

The conflict between the two centered on who would control the city. The split was over key city appointments, funds for city agencies, staffing of the police and fire departments, allocation of park resources, and sites for future public housing.

Although Washington was often frustrated by the Council during his first three years, he did secure some notable achievements. He managed to have a real estate tax hike passed to balance the budget. He succeeded in getting passed a strong ethics bill for city employees (including aldermen) and a renter's bill of rights. Washington also delivered city services equitably throughout the city and improved the city's bond rating.

Washington, like Byrne, had problems as an administrator. He was unable to implement long-range planning. Washington also made some weak appointments, including the head of the Chicago Housing Authority who became a political liability. Also, an FBI investigation resulted in indictments of a number of pro-Washington aldermen for taking bribes. Washington's close ally Clarence McLain, a convicted felon, was involved in a number of embarrassing scandals. However, Washington, like Mayor Richard Daley, was neither directly involved nor accused of any corruption and survived the scandals.

By the last year of Washington's first term, political momentum was moving in his direction. Special aldermanic elections gave Washington a majority in the Council. Thus, he could reorganize that chamber to advance his programs and approve his appointments.

As the 1987 Democratic primary drew near, it became apparent that it was each person for him or herself. Edward Vrdolyak announced he would run on either the Democratic or Solidarity ticket. Cook County Assessor Thomas Hynes announced he would run either as Democratic or as a candidate for the Chicago First Party. The Mayor considered either the Democratic Party or an independent bid as the vehicle for re-election. Richard Daley Junior decided not to be a candidate when the courts struck down the idea of a run-off between the two largest vote getters in the primary. Jane Byrne, the former Mayor, announced early that she would run only as a Democrat. Her strategy was to prevent other candidates from challenging Washington and to be his only significant primary opposition.

The Democratic primary of 1987 became a two person race between Byrne and Washington, with a minor fringe candidate being their only competition. The other major players, Hynes, Vrdolyak and the traditional Republican candidate (who was honorable, distinguished, and unelectable) waited for the general election.

Washington's strategy was to roll up massive black votes, gain a majority of Hispanic voters, and win a significant share of the lakeshore liberals. The administrative problems of his first term were blamed on the council wars, cutbacks under President Ronald Reagan, and the inherited mess of the Byrne years. On a more positive side, he stressed the eradication of the Byrne deficit, the openness of his government, and the new ethics law. Difficult problems such as the building of a central library and stadium for the Chicago Bears football team were deferred until after the election. He also adroitly side-stepped issues of corruption among his allies.

Jane Byrne's administrative record was as troublesome as the Mayor's, and she, too, was forced to defend her record. She attacked Washington because there weren't enough women hired under him. She blamed him for divisiveness in the city and for a tax hike.

The 1987 primary was a more subdued less intense election than either the primary or election of 1983. Washington received 547,945 votes (52% of the total). Jane Byrne received 498,238 votes (47.1%). The lack of animosity between the two candidates was obvious when Jane Byrne announced that she not only was supporting the mayor in the general election against her former ally Edward Vrdolyak, but that she would campaign for Washington as well.

Vrdolyak, Hynes, and the Republican candidate Donald Haider, who once served in the Byrne administration as Budget Director, were all former Democrats. They often seemed more concerned with attacking each other than attacking the mayor since each realized that he could beat Washington only if the others dropped out. Washington was a very strong candidate. His supporters were as enthusiastic as they had been in 1983. Many voters felt Washington had been sabotaged by Vrdolyak and the city council. Despite the struggles of Washington's first term, the garbage had been picked up, and the Mayor ruled the city with sensitivity to the needs of all the wards.

Vrdolyak did not make race an issue. He attacked Washington for being weak on crime, but his greatest ire was directed toward Hynes, who accused Vrdolyak of meeting with crime figures.

Hynes tried to run as competent administrator above the fray, but under attack by Washington and Vrdolyak, Hynes' campaign lost its aura of civility and became more negative. Hynes' lack luster performance in the debate of mayoral candidates and his slipping totals in various polls resulted in his quitting the campaign two days before the election. His decision, while helping Vrdolyak, came too late to affect Washington's victory. Donald Haider, the Republican candidate, unlike Epton four years before, was hardly a factor in the election. He acknowledged that he would have been shocked if he had won.

The election of 1987 was less racially divisive, than had been the election of 1983 and it also resulted in Washington capturing a City Council majority of twenty-seven seats out of fifty. Washington received 581,401 votes (53.4%) to Vrdolyak's 460,000 votes (42.3%). Donald Haider trailed with 46,708 votes (4.3%).

Washington's second term seemed promising. He had the Council majority he wanted, having reorganized the Council by a 40-9 vote. He was the first mayor since Daley to be re-elected and clearly was the most power political figure in Chicago. His opponents were supporting Washington on Washington's terms. He had fought the council wars and had won. Although he might not get everything he wanted, he was going to get most of it.

His action agenda and appointments would pass a reorganized council easily. His old enemy, Edward Vrdolyak, defected to the Republican Party. The transit authority, housing authority, park district, police and fire departments were now in his control. The ward boundaries, which would be determined by the 1990 census, would be drawn to benefit his candidates for office, assuring him support well into the decade of the 1990's. Washington was in a position to expand his electoral base. The slating session for county wide offices in 1987 selected the candidates he wanted.

The old Daley machine had lost its grip on power. Harold Washington was the person who could take its remnants and reform it to meet the new political realities of the city. Washington was in a position to bring greater harmony to the city and to the Democratic party. His boast that he would be mayor for twenty years seemed possible as long as his health held up and no great catastrophe occurred to undercut his growing support.

On November 25, 1987 Harold Washington, who had earlier in the day been joking as he dedicated a new community center, was stricken in his office with a massive heart attack. Once again, as eleven years before on the occasion of Richard Daley's death, the future of the city, which seemed to be tied to the fate of one man, became uncertain. The one thing that was certain was that while thousands of Chicagoans paid homage to the fallen leader, city politicians began to negotiate the transition to the post-Washington era. The selection process for the next mayor had been approved by the state legislature after Daley's death. The process required that an interim mayor be selected to do the routine tasks of governance until the City Council met. Then an acting mayor would be elected by a majority of aldermen from among their own ranks. This acting mayor would serve until the next general municipal election in the Spring of 1989.

The legacy of the Washington era was going to influence the selection of his successor. Washington had opened city government to those who had been previously denied power because of race. He unified the black voters into a powerful and influential political force. He had been like Daley before him, a potent father figure. But whereas Daley represented entrenched power, Washington represented the diverse element of reform. His coalition included black politicians schooled in the machine approach and community activists. A coalition which included establishment figures like George Dunne and radicals like Slim Coleman and Lu Palmer could be kept together only by a transcendent political figure like Washington. This coalition did not survive his death.

The black community, lead by presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, columnist Vernon Jarrett, and members of Washington's staff, pushed for Alderman Timothy Evans as the mayor's replacement. A memorial at the University of Illinois Pavilion, which attracted over 9,000 people, turned into an Evans rally. Washington's supporters urged that Washington's programs not be destroyed by his opponents which included Alderman Edward Burke. Jarrett, in particular, condemned black aldermen who seemed to be forming an alliance with Burke.

The white aldermen floated the idea that one of their own should be chosen mayor. White Aldermen Terry Gabinsky and Richard Mell both were interested in being selected. However, George Dunne insisted that the next mayor be black since it was the black voting block that was primarily responsible for electing Washington.

The black aldermen who were once part of the Daley block, but who had come to support Harold Washington, organized themselves behind the candidacy of Alderman Eugene Sawyer, President Pro Tem of the City Council. Lead by Alderman William Henry, as many as twelve black aldermen considered joining forces with the whites to push Eugene Sawyer for mayor at the City Council meeting that was scheduled for December 1st at 5:30 p.m. Between 2,500 and 5,000 Evans supporters peacefully surrounded the building where the election of the next mayor was to take place. They protested the selection of Sawyer. They chanted "no deals" and "we don't want "Uncle Tom Sawyer". A number of aldermen said they had received death threats. Court cases were being filed because the state's open meeting laws were apparently violated by backroom deals.

The council meeting itself was a scene of chaos. Sawyer lost half a dozen votes of black aldermanic supporters to Evans because of pressure from the black community, which felt that Sawyer was betraying the Washington legacy by receiving Burke's support. Sawyer himself seemed to want to delay the vote because he didn't want to be elected without substantial black support. After a series of prayer meetings among the aldermen and reports that Sawyer's knees were buckling and that he fainted, Sawyer reluctantly agreed to have the vote taken. At 4:01 a.m. Sawyer was elected mayor by the City Council on a 29-19 vote. He was not a popular candidate in the black community, which according to public opinion polls and radio talk show calls strongly backed Alderman Evans. Sawyer faced the same city problems that Washington did but lacked the popular support of the former mayor. He was, after all, only elected by 29 votes, not half a million like Washington had been.

Sawyer, who had been the first black alderman to support Washington, came under fire from Washington backers. The newspapers revealed that he had placed relatives on the city payroll and that they were being paid collectively over $500,000 a year in salary. It was discovered that he had received a mysterious $30,000 fee from a Chicago attorney who later became a judge.

Sawyer was defeated in the Democratic primary of 1989 by Richard M. Daley. Daley won the general election in that year and was re-elected in 1991 and 1995. Daley is still the Mayor.