1963 Chicago mayoral election

Last updated

1963 Chicago mayoral election
Flag of Chicago, Illinois.svg
←  1959 April 2, 1963 1967  →
Turnout69.6% [1] Increase2.svg 12.5 pp
  Richard J. Daley (JFKWHP-AR7347-A).jpg 3x4.svg
Nominee Richard J. Daley Ben Adamowski
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote679,497540,705
Percentage55.69%44.31%
Mayor before election

Richard J. Daley
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Richard J. Daley
Democratic

The Chicago mayoral election of 1963 was held on April 2, 1963. The election saw Richard J. Daley elected to a third term as mayor, defeating Republican Ben Adamowski by a double-digit margin.

Contents

The party was preceded by primary elections held on February 26, 1963 [2] to determine the nominees of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Daley was unopposed in the Democratic primary and former Cook County State's Attorney Adamowski faced only weak opposition in the Republican primary.

Background

Daley had, as mayor, overseen a revitalization of the city's downtown. [3] However, there were negative signs for his prospects of reelection. While Democrats had swept all but one of the major Cook County offices up for election in 1962, the party's candidate's margins of victory in numerous of these races had a vast decrease over their margins-of-victory in the previous 1958 elections for the same offices. [3] This was seen as evidencing a dissipation in Democratic Party support. [3] Additionally, in 1962, six bond issues which were strongly supported by Daley had all been defeated by voters by margins of nearly 3-2 in referendums. [3]

Despite these concerns, even before he announced his reelection effort, Daley was already receiving major endorsements. [3] Chicago's business community strongly stood behind him, and was pushing him to run for another term. [3] Advertising executive Fairfax Mastick Cone announced that he would organize the Non-Partisan Committee to Re-Elect Mayor Daley. [3] Within days of this, a large number of business leaders had publicly declared their support for Daley. [3] Additionally, organized labor continued to support the mayor. [3] On December 4, 1962 the Chicago Federation of Labor president William Lee announced the organization's endorsement of Daley's reelection. [3]

While influential endorsements for his prospective reelection had piled up, Daley remained initially noncommittal over whether he'd run, remarking, "running for a third term is something you don't make your mind up about overnight". [3] However, he would soon announce to a meeting of Democratic ward committeemen on December 14, 1962 that he planned to run for reelection, and received their unanimous support. [3] Days before Daley was to publicly announce his reelection effort, allegations related to Democratic machine connections to crime syndicates arose, tainting Daley's image. [3] To project strength, on January 2, when Daley formally filed his candidacy, he submitted nominating petitions extremely exceeding the requisite signature requirement, with 750,000 signatures. [3]

Primaries

Primary elections were held on February 26, 1963. [2] 48.31% of registered voters participated in the primary elections. [4]

Democratic primary

Incumbent mayor Richard J. Daley was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Republican primary

Cook County State's Attorney Adamowski won the Republican primary in a landslide. Adamowski had formerly been a Democrat until 1955, the same year in which he had lost the 1955 Democratic mayoral primary. Adamowski was considered to be smart and articulate. [3] He had previously carried Chicago's vote when he was elected Cook County State's Attorney in 1956, and his 1960 reelection loss had been a narrow one (which he alleged was due to vote theft committed by the Democratic machine). [3]

1963 Chicago Republican mayoral primary [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Ben Adamowski 174,742 90.54
Republican Howard J. Doyle9,5224.93
Republican Lawrence "Lar" Daly 8,7464.53
Turnout 193,010

General election

Adamowski sought to receive the backing of the city's sizable Polish-American electorate. [5] He had a strong backing among this electorate. [3] Adamowski ran a vigorous campaign. [3] Adamowski portrayed Daley as a heavy-taxing liberal. [5] He criticized Daley for what he alleged were government waste and high taxes. [3] He accused Daley of doing too much for the city's impoverished, particularly its expanding black population. [5] Adamowski dismissed Daley's assertions that city services had improved during his tenure. [3] Adamowski was particularly critical of the fire department under Daley's tenure. [3] He even placed blame for the Our Lady of the Angels School fire with Daley's fire department. [3] Adamowski criticized Daley for being a powerful political boss, declaring, "we do not have one party-rule, we have one-man rule." [3]

Daley painted a positive picture of the city of Chicago. [3] He put focus on the work he had done to redevelop Chicago and improve city services. [3] He argued that his police department reform had already resulted in reductions of crime rates. [3] He also boasted of awards won in 1959 and 1961 naming Chicago the "cleanest big city" in the United States. [3] He also boasted that the National Clean-Up, Paint-Up, Fix-Up Bureau had just declared the "cleanest large city" for 1962 as well. [3] Daley positioned himself to be the candidate of both business and labor unions. [3] Adamowski sought to paint himself as the "people's candidate", [3] saying,

I hear State Street is against me, the bankers are against me, and the labor leaders are against me. State street doesn't make Chicago big, it's the other way around. I'll take Western Avenue, Nagle Avenue, Ashland Avenue, and Milwaukee Avenue, where the little people reside. I'll take the bank depositors over the bankers any day. That goes for the little people in labor, too. [3]

A heated issue was "open housing", which referred to the issue of racial integration in Chicago's housing. [5] Daley attempted to skirt the issue, while Adamowski was vocal and clear in his opposition, stating, "I am opposed to so-called open occupancy legislation, because like patriotism it cannot be legislated. I would oppose it because it creates tense situations and can't be enforced." [5] Adamowski criticized Daley over aspects of construction undertaken at O'Hare Airport. Firms involved in the construction of the airport had hired Daley-ally and Democratic machine operative Thomas E. Keane, and Adamowski alleged that the airport was being run as, "a private concession for Tom Keane." [3]

Daley benefited from positive media attention. [3] Chicago's newspapers provided Daley largely positive coverage, assessing his mayoralty very positively. [3] Shortly ahead of the election, Daley graced the cover of the March 15 edition of the magazine Time . [3] [6] The cover story, entitled "Clouter with a Conscience", featured photos of new Chicago skyscrapers, O'Hare Airport, and a photo of Daley with president John F. Kennedy. [3] The article gave Daley credit for transforming the city, and awarding it "new stature". [3] The article's mere mention of Adamowski labeled him a former state's attorney who, "distinguished himself by never successfully prosecuting a major campaign". [3] To put Daley in a bind, Republicans introduced a bill to in the state legislature that would place a tax ceiling on the general expenditure fund of Chicago. [3] This meant that Daley, strongly opposed to such a measure, would need to again publicly oppose a measure similar to ones he had successfully helped fight in 1957, 1959, and 1961. [3] This, Republicans hoped, would lead voters to associate Daley with high taxes. [3]

Seeking to place a spotlight on his work on developing O'Hare Airport days before the election, to mark the opening of the airport's circular restaurant, Daley arranged to have an opening ceremony of the restaurant, for which he was able to get US President John F. Kennedy to attend. [3] The presidential visit also featured a motorcade along the seventeen-mile route between the airport and Conrad Hilton Hotel, where Daley hosted a "civic luncheon". [3] In the ceremony at the airport, Kennedy praised the airport and mayor, declaring that the airport, "could be classed as one of the wonders of the modern world" and was, "a tribute to Mayor Daley who kept these interests and resources together, working together, until the job was done". [3] Adamowski's campaign benefited from white backlash amid the civil rights movement. [5]

Result

Daley saw overwhelming support in predominantly African American wards on the city's south and west sides. [7] Adamowski defeated Daley in ethnically white wards by a three to one margin. [5] Daley only won due to his overwhelming support from the city's black voters. [5] Over half of Daley's vote came from black voters. [5] Daley received 81% of the black vote, but only 49% of the white vote. [3] The severity of Daley's decline in support with white voters, however, was partly aided by Adamowski's strong support among his fellow Poles. [3]

1963 Chicago mayoral general election [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Richard J. Daley (incumbent) 679,497 55.69
Republican Ben Adamowski 540,70544.31
Turnout 1,220,202

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Chicago mayoral election</span>

The Chicago mayoral election of 1995 resulted in the re-election of Democratic Party nominee incumbent Richard M. Daley over independent candidate Roland Burris, with 359,466 votes to Burris's 217,024. Daley won 60.1% of the total vote, winning by a landslide 24-point margin. The Republican candidate, Raymond Wardingley, fared poorly with only 2.8% of the vote. A fourth-place candidate, Harold Washington Party nominee Lawrence Redmond, won 0.9% of the votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1991 Chicago mayoral election</span>

The Chicago mayoral election of 1991 resulted in the re-election of incumbent Democrat Richard M. Daley to his first full-term. Daley had previously been elected to serve the remainder of Harold Washington's unexpired term in a special election held following Washington's death in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1989 Chicago mayoral special election</span>

The Chicago mayoral election of 1989 saw Democratic nominee Richard M. Daley win election to the remainder of an unexpired mayoral term with a 14% margin of victory. This marked a return for the Daley family to the office of mayor. Daley was elected over Alderman Timothy Evans, the nominee of the newly formed Harold Washington Party, and the Republican nominee Ed Vrdolyak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1987 Chicago mayoral election</span>

The Chicago mayoral election of 1987 was first the primary election on February 24, 1987 followed by the general election on April 7, 1987. The election saw the re-election of Chicago, Illinois' first African-American mayor, Harold Washington. Ed Vrdolyak, the leader of the Vrdolyak 29, unsuccessfully opposed him, running on the Illinois Solidarity Party ticket. Former mayor Jane Byrne, who served from 1979 until 1983 unsuccessfully challenged Washington in the Democratic primary.

Benjamin S. Adamowski was a politician and lawyer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1983 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1983 was first the primary on February 22, 1983, which was followed by the general on April 12, 1983. The election saw the election of Chicago's first African-American mayor, Harold Washington. Incumbent Mayor Jane Byrne, who had served since April 16, 1979 had lost renomination in the Democratic primary in a three-way race between herself, then–Congressman Washington, and then–Cook County State’s Attorney Richard M. Daley in February 1983. Washington would face off against Republican nominee Bernard Epton, winning with a 3.7% lead over Epton in the general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1979 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The 1979 Chicago mayoral election was first the primary on February 27, 1979, which was followed by the general on April 3, 1979. The election saw the election of Chicago, Illinois' first female mayor, and the first female mayor of any major American city, Jane M. Byrne. Byrne defeated Republican Wallace Johnson by a landslide 66 percent margin of victory, winning more than 82 percent of the vote. Byrne's 82% of the vote is the most any candidate has received in a Chicago mayoral election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1977 Chicago mayoral special election</span> Special municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1977 was a special election held on June 7, 1977 to complete the remainder of the unexpired mayoral term of Richard J. Daley who died of a heart attack in December 1976. The election saw Interim Mayor Michael A. Bilandic win the election. Bliandic defeated Republican Dennis H. Block by a landslide 56% margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 United States presidential election in Illinois</span> Election in Illinois

The 1960 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 8, 1960, as part of the 1960 United States presidential election. State voters chose 27 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1975 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1975 was held on April 1, 1975. Democratic Party incumbent Richard J. Daley was elected to a record sixth term as mayor by a landslide 59% margin over Republican nominee John J. Hoellen Jr. Only one other individual has since matched Daley's feat of winning six Chicago mayoral elections. This was the first Chicago mayoral election since the ratification of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1971 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1971, held on April 6, 1971, was a contest between incumbent Democrat Richard J. Daley and Republican Richard E. Friedman. Daley won by a landslide 40% margin, and it was his fifth consecutive mayoral win, the longest serving mayor of Chicago until that time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1967 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1967 was held on April 4, 1967. The election saw Richard J. Daley being elected to a fourth term as mayor. Daley's main opponent was Republican nominee John L. Waner, who he defeated by a landslide 48% margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1959 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1959 was held on April 7, 1959. The election saw Richard J. Daley being elected to a second term as mayor by a landslide margin of more-than 40%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1955 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The 1955 Chicago mayoral election saw Democrat Richard J. Daley win election to his first term as mayor by a ten-point margin over Republican Robert E. Merriam. This was the narrowest margin of victory of any of Daley's mayoral races.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1935 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1935, incumbent Interim Mayor Edward J. Kelly defeated Republican Emil C. Wetten and independent candidate Newton Jenkins by a landslide 60% margin of victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1939 Chicago mayoral election</span> Municipal election

The Chicago mayoral election of 1939 was held on April 5, 1939. The election saw incumbent Edward J. Kelly being reelected to a second full term, defeating Dwight H. Green by a double-digit margin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1915 Chicago mayoral election</span>

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1915, Republican William Hale Thompson defeated Democrat Robert Sweitzer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1919 Chicago mayoral election</span>

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1919, Republican William H. Thompson won reelection, winning a four way race against Democrat Robert Sweitzer, independent candidate Maclay Hoyne, and Cook County Labor Party candidate John Fitzpatrick. Sweitzer was the incumbent Cook County clerk, while Hoyne was the incumbent Cook County state's attorney. Fitzpatrick was a trade unionist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1946 Cook County, Illinois, elections</span> American elections

Elections were held in Cook County, Illinois, on November 5, 1946. Republicans took control of most county offices and occupied both seats of the Board of Appeals, although Democrats retained their majority in the Board of Commissioners. The Republican landslide reflected similar trends in state and federal elections at the time but was nevertheless unexpected. It resulted in the resignation of Democratic leader Edward Joseph Kelly and ultimately the end of his tenure as Mayor of Chicago. Republicans failed to capitalize on this victory in the following year's Chicago mayoral election, which was won by Democrat Martin Kennelly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Cook County State's Attorney election</span>

In the 1980 Cook County State's Attorney election, incumbent second-term state's attorney Bernard Carey, a Republican, was unseated by Democrat Richard M. Daley.

References

  1. ↑ Denvir, Daniel (May 22, 2015). "Voter Turnout in U.S. Mayoral Elections Is Pathetic, But It Wasn't Always This Way". City Lab (The Atlantic). Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "RaceID=389068". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Cohen, Adam; Taylor, Elizabeth (2001). American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. Little, Brown. pp. 160, 168, 170–176. ISBN   978-0-7595-2427-9.
  4. ↑ Franklin, Tim (February 23, 1983). "Voter turnout of 80 percent dwarfs record" . Chicago Tribune. Retrieved April 3, 2023– via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Green, Paul M.; Holli, Melvin G. (January 10, 2013). "The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition". SIU Press. p. 158. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  6. ↑ "TIME Magazine Cover: Richard J. Daley - Mar. 15, 1963". TIME.com. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  7. ↑ Fujinaga, Yasumasa (2014). "Black Power at the Polls: The Harold Washington Campaign of 1983 and the Demise of the Democratic Machine in Chicago" (PDF). The Japanese Journal of American Studies (25). Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Board of Election Commissioners For the City of Chicago Mayoral Election Results Since 1900 General Elections Only". Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. July 18, 2004. Archived from the original on July 18, 2004. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.