Thread by @ChiElections

Here's the latest work by @ChiElections: the 1955 mayoral election won by Richard J. Daley. From '55 until his death in 1976, Daley led the most powerful, resilient, and infamous urban political machine in the postwar U.S. /1

As mayor and chair of the Cook County Democratic Organization (the machine's formal name), Daley was a force in the national party. Locally, his skillful shepherding of ambitious public works and private development projects gave Chicago a reputation as "the city that works." /2

Under Daley, the machine-controlled municipal government dispensed favors and patronage jobs to loyal party members and businesspeople. The system "worked" for lots of white males but failed to benefit most people of color. Racial segregation intensified during Daley's tenure. /3

Violent repression of black and brown political mobilization defined Daley's later years: his shoot-to-kill order during the post-MLK-assassination uprising in April '68; the murder of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark by Chicago police in Dec. '69. /4

Journalists and scholars often refer to "the Chicago way" or "Chicago-style politics," as if the machine system was, and is, eternal and unchanging—an element in the city's water or residents' DNA. Yet the survival of the Democratic machine was an open question after WWII. /5

As detailed in @ChiElections partner @RichAndHistory's current book project, the '55 election came at a pivotal moment for metro politics & governance. Urban machines were dying across the U.S. In Chi, machine critics enjoyed growing influence inside and outside local gov't. /6

Chicago's incumbent mayor, "independent" Democrat Martin Kennelly, disdained machine politics but wasn't a powerful figure. (Daley easily beat him in the primary.) Likewise, machine loyalists controlled City Council. Still... /7

the "good government" style of 5th Ward Alderman Robert Merriam—the anti-machine Democrat-turned-Republican running against Daley—had prevailed in other cities (see the elections of Boston's Daniel Hynes in '49 and Philly's Joseph Clark in '51). /8

So how did Daley stem the reformist tide and restore machine control of the mayor's office in '55? As this precinct-level map suggests, his campaign reconstituted Chicago's local New Deal coalition of African Americans and working-class whites, esp. union members. /9

The "river wards" pictured here (excuse the rough screen shot) were home to the machine's core constituency of white ethnic working-class voters—residents who held city patronage jobs or belonged to unions allied w/the Dem organization. Daley took these wards overwhelmingly. /10

Residents of the so-called "black belt" also voted in huge numbers for Daley. Check out his percentages in the majority-black 2nd ward (80%), 3rd ward (76%), and 20th ward (73%). The 6th Ward, rapidly transitioning to majority-black, gave Daley 62% of the vote. /11

Daley deftly cultivated African Americans while also appealing to explicitly racist white segregationists. At least in 1955, both groups saw his candidacy as a potential vehicle for their political goals. /12

This dynamic is clearest in the 10th Ward, where since 1953 violent white mobs had terrorized black tenants integrating the Trumbull Park Homes. Despite his very public campaigning in black wards, Daley still won the 10th by a vote of 57-43%. /13

(For more on the Trumbull Park violence, see Arnold Hirsch's article, "Massive Resistance in the Urban North: Trumbull Park, Chicago,1953-1966" in the Journal of American History (Sept. 1995). jstor.org/stable/2082185… /14

The reasons behind African American support for Daley's early campaigns are too complex for this thread. Suffice it to say, most black voters in the '50s didn't see Chi's elite, white anti-machine reformers as allies in the drive for racial justice. /15

Over the next ten or so years, Chi's Dem machine managed to contain the latent, and sometimes blatant, racial and class tensions within its governing coalition. We'll explore the breakdown of that coalition in a future set of maps. /16

This thread draws heavily on the research of @RichAndHistory, but a group of terrific scholars are exploring race, politics, policing, and protest in postwar Chi, including @melanienewport @ESG2424 @gomantler @dvhunter @AustinMcCoy3.