Progressive Legacy | Harold Washington
Harold Washington- First Black Mayor of Chicago
April 15, 1922 – November 25, 1987
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Harold Washington was born in 1922. He was the last child of Roy and Bertha Washington. His father was a lawyer, a Methodist minister, and an active precinct captain and he instilled in his son a love of education, reading, and public service. Harold’s parents divorced when he was very young and he was raised primarily by his father, of whom he spoke admiringly. ”I knew who Santa Claus was,” Harold told writer Robert McClory. “He came home every night, put his feet under the table and had dinner with me.” Harold grew-up on Chicago’s hardscrabble South Side guided by a strong paternal hand. He briefly attended a boarding school in Milwaukee and then Forestville Elementary School in Chicago’s Third Ward. He attended DuSable High School and excelled as a high hurdler and middleweight boxer. His education was interrupted by a four-year stint in the Army Air Corps, where he reached the rank of sergeant and earned a high school equivalency diploma. After his discharge, he enrolled at the newly opened Roosevelt College in downtown Chicago. A voracious reader and eager student, Harold thrived in this academic setting; he was elected president of the student council and of his senior class.
Following the vocational footsteps of his father, Harold continued his education at Northwestern University’s School of Law, graduating in 1952. His father died a year later and Harold took over the family law firm. Roy Washington was the first black man appointed as assistant corporation council in Chicago and Harold also succeeded his father in that job. He later worked for the Illinois Industrial Commission. Well-versed by his father in the nuts-and-bolts of precinct politics, Harold became a coveted political strategist and he managed the successful campaign of Third Ward alderman Ralph Metcalfe. In 1964, he won a seat in the state legislature.
Harold served six distinguished terms in the state legislature — five as a state representative and one as a senator. He ran a somewhat symbolic campaign in a 1977 mayoral election called after the sudden death of Mayor Richard J. Daley. In 1980, Harold won the election to represent Illinois’ First Congressional District and quickly earned a national reputation as an articulate critic of President Ronald Reagan and his administration’s conservative policies.
But as his star was rising on the national stage, the clamor was growing among black Chicagoans urging him to run for mayor. He initially resisted their call and relented only after the demanding requisites he set for his supporters had been met. They easily met his conditions and when Harold stepped up, they exuberantly launched the Washington crusade/campaign. Harold campaigned as a proudly black candidate and a dedicated political reformer. African-Americans across the nation saw the Washington crusade as another step in the civil rights movement. Political reformers saw Harold’s run as a populist and progressive challenge to the encrusted corruption of Chicago’s machine politics. During a period when conservative forces were gaining national power, Harold had ignited a progressive prairie fire in the heartland.
Washington’s opponents in the 1983 primary election were incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne and Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley. Daley was the son of the legendary mayor Richard J. Daley, who died in office in 1976. Byrne, Chicago’s first female mayor, had won the first election held after the elder Daley’s death. Byrne and Daley basked in the headlines, while Washington’s candidacy sailed under the media radar. In the election, most white voters split between Byrne and Daley. Washington pulled about 73 percent of the black vote and 20 percent of the Latino vote to become the Democrats’ first black mayoral nominee. The pundits and much of the white public were stunned. Black Chicagoans, for the most part, were jubilant that their long political exile could be over. The general election was blighted by an ugly kind of racial politics that drew international attention. Chicago’s white electorate, which had become famous (even infamous) for its unvarying support of Democrats, rapidly changed political preferences and delivered their support to a formerly obscure state legislator named Bernard Epton. His campaign slogan was: “Epton, Before It’s Too Late.”
Virtually every black voter chose Harold in that historic general election in 1983. With more than one-half of the Latino vote and about 12 percent of whites, Harold won a narrow victory to become Chicago’s first black mayor. He outlined an ambitious agenda, but many of his reform policies were blocked by what became known as “Council Wars.” On one side of this conflict were 29 white aldermen led by Edward Vrydolyak and loyal to remnants of the political machine and on the other side was a multiracial group of 21, known as the Washington reformers. This political rivalry became so rancorous it earned Chicago the moniker “Beirut-on-the-lake.” Through it all, Harold continued pushing for progressive changes, slowly gaining converts for his commitment to fairness and transparent government. A special aldermanic election in 1986 changed the ratio of Washington and Vrydolyak forces and allowed Washington to execute his agenda just a year before the end of his first term.
Washington’s re-election effort focused on his progress in the face of an obstructionist opposition. Although the racist character of attacks on Washington subsided a bit in the 1987 campaign, there was a racial subtext nonetheless. After defeating former mayor Byrne in the primary, Washington had to ward off challenges from two former Democratic officials who had formed entirely new parties to challenge him. Even the GOP candidate was a former Democrat. Harold won re-election with a slightly larger portion of the white vote than he got the first time, but he solidified his hold on black voters and made gains among the Latino electorate.
Political momentum was moving in his direction and his second term seemed promising. He had broadened his electoral coalition and gained the City Council majority. The Daley machine finally looked to have lost its grip on municipal power and Harold Washington was poised to pick up the reins and steer a new progressive course. But then: a massive heart attack felled Washington the day before Thanksgiving 1987, just seven months into his second term. His sudden death traumatized black Chicagoans, but it soon it became clear that the city’s first black mayor was not just a local hero. His charismatic presence and widening reputation as a people’s intellectual gave him a personal appeal that spanned geography, social class and race. His principled struggle against racist opposition and machine politics — and his eventual triumph — inspired activists of all persuasions and provided hope that successful multiracial alliances were possible. During his tenure, Washington opened city government to those previously excluded, he unified the black electorate into a powerful and influential political force, and he unleashed the forces of reform. However, Washington’s coalition was a collection of disparate interests that were unified only through his unique appeal.
Twenty years have passed since his death and several books have chronicled the Washington years, but something about Harold — which is how nearly everyone refers to him still — remains mysterious. A certain quality of his baritone voice … his rhetorical skills … a peculiar tilt of his head — all connoted an intangible something, something uniquely “Haroldesque.” He seemed unimpressed with the accoutrements of power. In fact, his indifference to financial rewards accounts for one of the most conspicuous blemishes on his professional record — his conviction for failing to file his income tax returns. The other major stain on Washington’s resume was a temporary suspension of his law license for failing to perform legal work for which he was paid. His supporters dismissed those crimes as careless indiscretions, products of the man’s absentminded political intensity.
Following his death, the coalition he constructed collapsed and dissipated into the political mist.
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Ivana