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Remembering Richard J. Daley

Interview transcript: Vince Gavin, June 19, 2014

Interview with Vince Gavin, June 19, 2014. RJDOH_01_gavin_vince_20140619. Richard J. Daley Oral History collection, University of Illinois Chicago.

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Building for Chicago's People
We want to do three things here in Chicago. We want to make Chicago an international city. We want to bring headquarters for companies in here. And we want to build Chicago for its people.

Mayor Richard J. Daley, as quoted by A. Robert Abboud, First National Bank of Chicago, President, interview excerpt, December 3, 2009
Development projects
I think he did a great job of building the city, turning it into a great city, and interacting with the federal government. It was building the city, getting the expressway systems built, getting O’Hare built, getting UIC [University of Illinois Chicago] built, and getting so many of the buildings downtown built. I think he did a great job of turning the city into a world class city.

Robert G. Vanecko, grandson of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, March 5, 2010
Robert Christensen, a former city engineer who served under Daley, explains the building projects the mayor oversaw:
He helped hospitals in their plans for expansion and ways to do things. I would only find out about it sometimes because some CEO of a hospital or someone like that would tell me. “Your father-in-law was very helpful to us, getting these people to come on our board and tell us to go ahead on this.”

Dr. Robert M. Vanecko, MD, son-in-law of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, March 8, 2010

The Loop and downtown
These programs to Chicagoans were part of a larger plan to revitalize the city’s downtown “Loop” area and strengthen its infrastructure.
Both Mayor Richard J. Daley and later his son, Mayor Richard M. Daley (served 1989-2011) contributed to the city’s built environment.
Most of the downtown was developed under his dad. Most of the neighborhoods were developed under Rich. We’re lucky to have the Daleys because I wouldn’t want to be going through a new mayor every four years—things would never get done.

Vince Gavin, Daley Security Chief and Liquor Commissioner, interview excerpt, June 19, 2014
In this audio clip, Joseph Fitzgerald, former Chicago Building Commissioner, recounts how Mayor Daley facilitated the construction of the Sears Tower, now known as the Willis tower:

Sometimes existing regulations required Mayor Daley to come up with creative solutions. A. Robert Abboud, a Chicago business executive, remembers one example:
Urban renewal and infrastructure
Urban renewal and new infrastructure changed the face of neighborhoods. But it came as a cost. In some cases, for example, development required longtime residents to relocate against their wishes. Even so, development also offered greater access to services and thoroughfares and fostered business and employment opportunities.

Finding the money
To pay for those projects and the many services Chicago provided its residents, Daley secured funds from a number of sources. He used the city’s taxing authority when necessary, but he also wanted to ensure Chicago retained control of how that money was spent. That part of his job became easier when the new Illinois Constitution of 1970 granted "home rule" status to the city. Home rule meant that Chicago enjoyed greater discretion of when and how to tax, regulate, and perform certain services.
So the mayor wanted to keep Chicago’s taxing authority and Chicago’s ability to regulate independent of the General Assembly. So rather than trying to pass off responsibility to suburban communities or to county government, he wanted to centralize control in the city of Chicago….He didn’t want municipal functions to be broadened out into the region or the county. He wasn’t trying to save taxpayers money by diverting responsibilities for the various city functions to the broader governmental agencies.

Ray Simon, Corporation Counsel City of Chicago, interview excerpt, June 30, 2010
Federal aid was important. Daley worked with Illinois’s congressional delegation to ensure Chicago received its share of national revenue.
He was very shrewd in his relationship with Washington, D.C. He had a close relationship with Dan Rostenkowski, who was Chairman of Appropriations. Rostenkowski helped get him get the money to build the expressways, like the Dan Ryan and the improvements on the Kennedy. He was very much interested in transportation.

Burton Natarus, Attorney and Alderman from the 42nd Ward from 1971-2007. Interview excerpt, June 16, 2010
At the Office
The mayor was never one who drank coffee at his desk. He never ate at his desk. City Hall was for business. He had a schedule where he ran appointments fifteen minutes to half an hour. He had a very heavy schedule every day. He was such a brilliant man. He almost never wrote anything down. He remembered what people wanted.

Thomas Donovan, Administrative Assistant to Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, April 2, 2009

My guess is that if my grandfather were alive today, he would not be a fan of casual Fridays.

Courtney Thompson, granddaughter of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, August 5, 2002

His discipline was beyond belief. He was just spot on everything. He was just always—we used to say if the mayor’s house burned down he’d come out in a suit.

Vince Gavin, Security Chief for Richard J. Daley, interview except, July 19, 2014
I think that all good political leaders understand that there’s a bit of theater to life. And he understood that.

William Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, December 5, 2008
During his time as mayor and in his public life, he held more press conferences than any other mayor. He was accessible every day. I mean, it was unbelievable. People said how he would be hiding out and things like that. He was more accessible to the press.

Michael Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 26, 2006
I’d go to press conferences just to see him handling them. I mean, if he didn’t want to answer a question, the press couldn’t make him answer it, and he would talk around that question so they were so confused they wouldn’t know where it started. He was always in control.

James Riley, Assistant to Richard J. Daley’s Campaigns for Mayor, interview excerpt, October 30, 2014
Mayor Daley cultivated a strong relationship with local newspapers from Chicago’s neighborhoods, as his official photographer explains in this audio clip:
There was no typical day for the mayor.

There was always a riot. There was always something going on. And so you never, ever knew what. You’d think, oh, it’s going to be a peaceful day today, I’m going to do this, that and the other thing. You couldn’t do it because it was something different.

Kay Quinlan, Richard J. Daley’s Personal Secretary, interview excerpt, August 7, 2014
When they see the mayor in person, when he gets up before an audience. Talk about Knute Rockne. He’s the Knute Rockne of politics.

Ed Kelly, Chicago Park District Superintendent 1973-1986, interview excerpt, December 11, 2003
He could charm anybody. He could strike the fear of God into anybody. If he was in a large room and he entered, it was a presence that he had there that just buzzed with excitement.

Robert Christensen, Executive Director, Chicago Public Building Commission, interview excerpt, September 8, 2003
He was very bright, had a high I.Q., and had a photographic memory. In fact, he never forgot anything. He could meet someone and would spend two minutes talking to them. If he saw that person again, there was a fifty-fifty chance he’d know their name.

Richard Pavia, Chicago Water Commissioner (1973-1979), interview excerpt, June 20, 2002
Loyalty in Politics As mayor of Chicago and chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley controlled the hiring and firing of thousands of city and county employees. For some of those positions, proven loyalty to the Democratic Party was necessary for getting and keeping a job. This system was not expressly illegal, and supporters argued that it fostered hard work and loyalty to the city.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter argues that political hiring helped the city be responsive to neighborhood needs:
He’d go out to his ward meetings on Saturday mornings; he’d have two hundred precinct captains at 37th and Halsted at the 11th Ward. And we’d pull up on the corner there. And the precinct captains would come up and say “Mr. Mayor, can you help Joe? His son needs a job.” And the mayor would say, “Have him call so and so. We’d be glad to help him out.”

Vince Gavin, Security Chief for Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 19, 2014
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter explains how loyalty in politics worked:
He wanted to run the show. Of course, the organizations were strong then. We had a patronage system.

Burton Natarus, interview excerpt, June 16, 2010
Thomas Donovan explains the role of loyalty in politics under Mayor Daley:
Former corporation counsel, Ray Simon, argues that loyalty in politics often connected everyday citizens to the political process:
Now keep in mind, at that time I hadn’t even started law school yet. I was walking out. And in great Chicago political style, as I was walking away ready to become a precinct captain, Mr. Huppert said, “And Art, do a good job. I’ll make you a judge.”

Arthur Berman, Illinois Legislator, interview excerpt, October 8, 2003
He knew that I wasn’t a registered Democrat. And this was probably a good year or so that I’d been working there. He’d approved my hiring and all that. It never got into anything political. It’s amazing.

Marshall Suloway, Chief Engineer City of Chicago, interview excerpt, August 11, 2003
I do remember specifically one case of a family over on 51st Street in the Back of the Yards, where the only breadwinner in the family was a worker in the stockyards, and he cut his hand off on a saw in a meatpacking plant. I called Tom Donovan and within a couple of days a brother in the family was working for the city and keeping that little family together. But there are thousands of those stories. It was just a different time and a different city. I know there’s a lot of criticism about the abuses of the political patronage system, but in truth there were a lot of families that benefited from the ability to access work of some kind.

Ed Burke, Alderman, interview excerpt, August 5, 2014
U.S. Senator Richard Durbin offers his thoughts on loyalty in politics: By the late 1970s, new federal and state laws and court decisions had curtailed the patronage system. Most notably, in 1969, Michael Shakman, a candidate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention, filled a lawsuit that successfully challenged politically influenced personnel decisions. In the ensuing years, that lawsuit resulted in what became known as the "Shakman Decrees." They limited the mayor's prerogative to hire and fire employees.
But one former colleague of Mayor Daley, looking back on the era, believed that such revisions worked best when balanced against the need for responsive government:
A National Mayor
He ran the city. And many times, he ran the state. There are some people that think he elected a president, Kennedy.

Ben W. Heineman, businessman, public servant, and friend of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, October 22, 2003
Daley’s influence extended beyond Chicago. He participated annually in the United States Conference of Mayors, serving as president of the organization from 1959 to 1960, and he advised U.S. presidents and other policymakers.

I also remember traveling, going to Washington…. When they had the conference of mayors, we went there. The conference of mayors was always in the summer. … And those were great. We went to Hawaii one year. And that year was the year, the summer before Kennedy was assassinated, we saw him out there. He stopped and spoke to all of us. That was the last time we saw him. That was the last time my dad saw him. But going to Washington, he’d go out on urban issues for the city. He was fighting for city causes along with other big city mayors…. But anyway, the respect that they had for him, not just from the Illinois delegation, but all around.

John Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, May 9, 2007
The presidents
Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy
Harry Truman came in one Saturday. And he came in by himself. And he was staying over at the Sherman, I guess. Vince Leddy was the policeman’s name at the desk, and he came back and he said to me, “You won’t believe who’s here.” And I said, “Who?” He said, “Truman.” I said, “Well, bring him in.” Vince Leddy was sitting at the desk reading something, and Truman came in, had a cane, hit him on the head and said, “Young man, is your mayor in?” So of course the mayor was. “Bring him in, you know, right away.”

Kay Quinlan, Richard J. Daley’s Personal Secretary, interview excerpt, August 7, 2014
As mayor, Daley maintained contact with each sitting president, sometimes advising them on important matters.

Mayor Daley and President Lyndon Baines Johnson
[President Johnson] liked the mayor. He called the mayor for advice. The mayor would never ask for anything personal. He’d ask for things for the city. And I don’t think that if it was within his control and within his power to do it, I don’t think he’d ever say no to him. But the mayor was a wise and prudent person. He never wore out his welcome.

Ray Simon, Corporation Counsel City of Chicago 1965-1969, interview excerpt, June 30, 2010
He knew Johnson. He was closer in age to Johnson. And he had tremendous respect for Johnson in the sense of how he was able to pass legislation. And he had a concern with Kennedy that many times, people in Kennedy’s cabinet tried to take Congress on, rather than working with them. And then when Johnson became president, he said, “I will work with you. The delegation will work with you.” But he respected Johnson. He was able to accomplish things on his own, and passed many things Kennedy was unable to pass. It was because they had sort of an attitude against Congress, which we mentioned earlier about the university, towards my dad – I think some of the people around Kennedy, not himself, thought that they did not need the Congressional leadership. And they found out very quickly that their bills went down in defeat.

John Daley, son of Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, May 9, 2007
Watch footage (no audio) from President Johnson's visit to Chicago in 1964:
Nixon, Ford, and Carter
We were walking one day from church and we were going up to meet President Nixon at O’Hare Field and he looked at me and he says, “What time do we have to be up there?” And I said, “Air Force One should be at O’Hare, at the hangar there at ten o’clock Mr. Mayor.” He said, “Fine.” Then he said, “You know Vince, people might not respect the man, but you have to always respect the office.” That says a lot. That’s when he had all the Watergate issues. That was probably one of the biggest scandals in those days of politics in Washington. So the mayor says, “He’s the President of the United States and I’m going to greet him.” Other things aside, he didn’t back off. He didn’t say he’s got problems. Everybody needs a friend when they have problems.

Vince Gavin, Security Chief for Richard J. Daley, interview excerpt, July 19, 2014

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Interview with Vince Gavin, June 19, 2014